Dear Friends,
This Sunday our children return for church school and now it feels like all the puzzle pieces for a great program year at church are falling into place! I have high hopes of a noisy 9 am service with crying babies, toddlers breaking loose, and toy cars and crayons being deployed in the pews followed by the great stampede at the end of service as our kids head to the best Sunday school in the city.
To go with this great return, we have a great Gospel: The Rich Man and Lazarus (not THAT Lazarus, but the poor man at the rich man’s gate, covered in sores). Like last week’s Gospel with the Dishonest Manager, there are many ways to interpret this Gospel, but none of us can escape some simple truths: we ARE our siblings’ keeper, those most in need and near to us demand our closest attention and care, and we don’t need a miraculous messenger to tell us the right thing to do, for it is woven throughout all of scripture. So, a stiff but important message for all of us!
And also the way in which we hope to bring up our children: well formed in the faith, compassionate, connected to those around us not just those like us. That’s the kind of place All Saints is, too, and I’m looking forward to a fabulous year.
See you in church!
Faithfully, Suzanne+