June used to be thought of as “the wedding month” when we would see many “June brides”. These days we tend to have fewer weddings in June, and more in Aug/Sept, but of course the whole of summer is a popular time to get married. Also, June or Petertide (sometimes just in July) is the traditional time for ordinations, as we celebrate and remember the life of Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples. Weddings and ordinations are both services of commitment, to each other and to God. In both, the lives of those directly involved will change in some way or another, in some cases quite dramatically. As it says in the marriage service, the couple are to “begin a new life together in the community” just as priests take on a different role in the community too. It is a time of public commitment, of decisions, of symbolic actions which represent the feelings and desires of those involved. Many of us will have made commitments in public at various points in our lives, maybe a long time ago or more recently. When did we make our commitment to God? Was it 10, 20, 30 years ago, or was it this morning? Is once enough? In a marriage commitment, we may only stand up and make a commitment in public once, but hopefully we repeat that commitment every day, in different ways, whether that be by telling our partner that we love them or by making them a meal! I wonder if we do that for God? Do we re-make our promise to God every day and, if so, how do we do it? How does God know that we are Christians every day of our lives and not just on Sundays? As we approach Petertide and our Patronal festival for St Peter’s Church, maybe we could reflect on our commitment to God and how we put that into action.
God bless,
Kathryn Buck
The Parish Mission Statement
The family of Hednesford Parish
love and worship God as they care
for each other and the community
and actively seek to bring others
to know Jesus Christ.
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