Ascension : St Mary's Church - From the Bishop
Submitted by The Islander (Clive & Jenny Duncan) 22.10.2009 (Article Archived on 05.11.2009)

My dear friends, I want to say how much I have enjoyed my time with you on Ascension.

It has been both a privilege and joy to share in your life and fellowship.  I return to St Helena tomorrow and will be holding you all in my prayers and thoughts.

Christianity is not a religion, rather it is a way of life, based on a loving relationship between the creature and the creator. This relationship is based on love - Love which God supremely demonstrated on the Cross of Calvary when he gave His all for each one of us.  We are called to respond to this love in our daily commitment.  Our fellowship as the Church comes from our common commitment to God.  It comes from our realization that in Him we live and move and have our being. 

The world cannot understand this.  It wants to reduce Christianity to a philosophy or religion which is based on a set code of moral behaviour.  The way in which Christians behave comes not from a set of rules but from the depth of their spirituality.  The Ten Commandments should be seen not so much as a list of Do’s and Don’ts but rather as sign posts which say you will not be happy or fulfilled if you go down this way.

Our Christian heritage, for which we should always give thanks, comes from people who have tried sincerely and devoutly to respond to God’s great love and in doing this they expressed it in their relationship with their fellow human beings in desiring the greatest good for them.  The way in which we treat one another is a fair measure of how much we love God!

We are all weak in our response and there are some who have become dormant, but we need to persevere in trying to respond to God’s love.

Perhaps our daily prayer should be:

And yet I want to love thee Lord

O light the flame within my heart

And I will love thee more and more

Until I see thee as thou art

I leave you all with many happy memories and I give thanks to God always for you.   I’ll be back soon.

May God richly bless you and keep you in His love always

+ John St Helena