This Spring we tried doing it differently (Marriage Preparation day that is!), and the couples who came – to our delight – were really appreciative of the day we arranged for them.  We hope their married life together will be the richer because they took the risk of doing something they had never done before.
Change is never easy to handle; some of us really welcome it, others are wary.  Our attitudes depend on what sort of change we face – the longer summer days most of us welcome – the rise in fuel bills we accept reluctantly – a new car hopefully we enjoy – a new child or grandchild is (on the whole!) a delight.  Growing up is inevitable and poses both excitement and apprehension.
Change is all around us and in the church we are at it again, revising our service times within St Paul’s and Holy Cross, seeking to provide both stability and a greater variety of approach for today’s increasingly diverse society; and there is a full range of responses to what is to be implemented from the beginning of this month.
The prospect of change exposes what we really value, or consider essential.  So the readiness to embrace the changes involved in being married, arise out of a deep desire to be one with the one loved.
So often, we are ready to face change in almost any aspect of life except within the church!  Why might that be?  Well, here’s a suggestion: perhaps because trust is misplaced.  For the person of Christian faith, trust has to be in the unchanging nature of God, the source of innovation and creativity, who gives us life, so we may grow into His likeness!  That sounds risky!  Perhaps God is much more dynamic, versatile, adventurous than we would dare to imagine.
There is constancy in His character, but enormous variety to His unceasing creative genius, and His church is meant to enjoy and reflect both.
With my greetings, Jim Stevens