成人快手

Good morning.聽The nineteenth century English poet John Clare wrote:

鈥淪ummer pleasures they are gone like to visions every one

And the cloudy days of autumn and of winter cometh on

I tried to call them back but unbidden they are gone

Far away from heart and eye, and for ever far away.鈥�

Here in Scotland we had an unusually warm and sunny summer in most parts, and we enjoyed it to the full.聽 Unlike the old fisherwoman in a poem by Alastair Reid.聽 He described meeting the woman on a brilliant summer day and saying to her 鈥淲hat a day it is!鈥澛� And she replied with the ancient misery of her ancestors, 鈥淲e鈥檒l pay for it, we鈥檒l pay for it, we鈥檒l pay for it鈥�.

It鈥檚 the snakes and ladders view of life: for every glimpse of beauty or goodness, there are dark moments coming; for every example of kindness and generosity, there are those of callous indifference; every misfortune which occurs must be the punishment for some sin unknown; and for every vision of hope there must be a nightmare of despair.

Well, wherever that sort of wallowing in pessimism comes from, it isn鈥檛 Christian faith, which invites us not to pretend despair doesn鈥檛 matter, but actively to seek out grounds for hope; not to fear the worst nor dress it up in happy clothes when it comes, but to have an unsentimental realism; and not, like Dr Pangloss, to believe that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds, not to believe that聽 whatever happens must be planned by God - for my belief is that it wasn鈥檛 - but that God is there whatever happens.

And so, loving God, be with us today and in all the todays ahead.聽 Amen.