Dear saints,
It has meant so much to me to receive many well wishes and prayers from you all. I have been making a slow return to work and I’m very grateful that I have the opportunity to do so, relying on the support of truly excellent and dedicated staff and lay leaders at All Saints’. My personal road to recovering my strength has reminded me of that beautiful line from the prayer book describing planet earth as "our fragile island home." Life is indeed a fragile and wondrous gift, yet the greater gift is that we get to share it with other forms of life. This Earth Day weekend we will have plenty of opportunity to reflect on how as followers of Jesus we might be restorers of life — those whose calling is to raise up that which God has created. The nurture of life, the protection of the vulnerable, the promoting of diversity are all elements of Christian ethics that can equally be applied to how we love our neighbor as much as to how we love our planet. May God‘s gracious spirit lead us ever more fully into that calling as stewards of all the gifts of God.
Peace,
Simon+
