We’ve had some strange weather so far this September! It started off unseasonably cold, then became unseasonably warm. During the cold spell, I like many others was tempted to put our heating on, but we held out – and I lost count of the number of times I’ve said to my children ‘if you are cold put a jumper on’.
Our reasons for not cranking up the heating are partly about the financial cost and environmental impact of heating our home, but also because I want to develop resilience in my family, so that when it really does get cold in the winter we will be able to tolerate it better, and also ‘feel the benefit’ of the heating as my granny would say!
Resilience is a popular word in our culture: schools encourage their students to be ‘emotionally resilient’, businesses seek ‘organisational resilience’, and governments and scientists are seeking ways to make our precious earth more ‘climate resilient’ (something we are also thinking particularly about during this season of Creationtide).
Last week I had the privilege of being part of the announcement day for the new Bishop of Southampton last week – the Ven. Rhiannon King, currently Archdeacon of Ipswich, will be joining our diocese in November (please keep her in your prayers!).
We visited a school in Bournemouth and the children prayed beautifully for her – one prayer was particularly memorable for me: “Please help her be courageous and resilient when she is faced with difficulty. Remind her that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.”
This verse quoted from Philippians 4:13 is often misapplied and taken to mean – ‘I can achieve all my goals through Christ’s empowering.’ But if we read the surrounding verses, we realise that’s not what Paul meant at all. Directly before, Paul says: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
Paul is talking about spiritual resilience, relying on God through the ups and downs of life. It’s something that as Christians we need to cultivate. It is not the false hope of the world that says we can pursue every dream and then be disappointed if it doesn’t happen. But instead it’s the way of the cross, which promises that joy is there for people of faith in every situation, through Christ who gives us His strength.
So I pray this week, whatever you are facing, and for our new Bishop Rhiannon as she gets ready to join us, that we would all know the sturdiness and peace that comes from being rooted in Christ, through the good times and the bad, through summer and winter.
Love and blessings,
Revd Jemima Lewis