Minster's Letter: July 2010

Game of Life.

A golfer once asked a minister if he would ask God for him if they played the game in heaven. The minister did what was asked and reported back: ' I've got good news and bad news. The good news is there is golf in heaven. The bad news is you're teeing off next Monday.' Life is short and death can be sudden. So many of us are left asking, ' What is it all about?'

Many use sport and games as a metaphor for life itself. For example, when an elderly person dies we might say ' they had a good innings.' Less positively, we may talk of life as a lottery, governed by chance and luck. Or we may talk of ourselves as pawns who, like in a game of chess, make the right moves but do not progress.

Even if we gain the success we desire, it may ring hollow. Bernhard Langer was a gifted golfer who captained Europe to a Ryder Cup win against the USA. He said, ' I had achieved everything I could ever dream of. The problem was something was missing.' As the actress Lily Tomlin said, ' The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.'

Jesus Christ, who Langer now follows, showed us what life is really about: loving God and loving each other. We may pride ourselves on all sorts of things, from sporting achievements to progress through technology, medicine, communication and travel. We may find ourselves being told by the media who life's winners are: the famous, the rich, the successful, the beautiful, the powerful. But Jesus, through his teaching and example, tells us differently. He said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.' Following Jesus is the only way we can find the meaning, purpose and fulfilment we all long for.

Yours in Christ,