Rector's Letter

Dedham Vicarage

July 2024

Dear Friends,

Well by the time this reaches you we will have experienced an important political event on 4 July (and to clarify for our American friends I don’t mean Independence Day!).  It is, of course, the long-anticipated General Election.  Who will be the winners?  Who will be the losers?  Where will the biggest surprises come?  All will be revealed!

Politicians, and the governments they represent, come and go.  Christians believe that God “establishe[s]” the authorities we have (Romans 13:1).  That’s not to say necessarily that He is ‘for one party’ and not ‘for another’ in any given election cycle, but more that He realises that for humanity and society to flourish we need leadership – and ideally the best leadership on offer.  We can’t always have great governments, but at least in our society we have a voice and an ability, however small or large, to make our concerns heard and views known at the ballot box.

One thing I have noticed at politically significant times in our national life is that our general wellbeing can be greatly enhanced by occasionally ‘switching off’ or ‘zoning out’.  Whether it’s social media, the newspapers or a programme on the telly, it can contribute to a feeling of being overwhelmed.  King David, the famous King over God’s people in the time before Jesus whose life was one punctuated by significant events that threatened to overwhelm him, was able to escape that fate by ‘switching off’ from the daily stresses of life and turning his attention to something else.  Here’s what he writes about this: “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: …to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him” (Psalm 27:4). King David knew how to refocus in the midst of events and people that clamoured for his attention: he turned to the Lord.  And what he found was beautiful, what he found was something that was much more worthy of his attention.  The challenges he experienced were real and significant, but he knew there was something much more important: his relationship with his Maker and his Saviour.

This election season – whether you’re reading this before or after the big day – why not take some time to ‘switch off’ and refocus?  You could do this personally, by reading one of the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life (the Gospels), or you could do this with others, by joining us at one of our services (details of service times and places in this publication).  It might just help us escape the stress of it all!

Best wishes,

Phillip

Revd Phillip Young