Looking Down on Creation

                                                                                    St. Michael’s Vicarage
Alnwick

Dear People of Alnwick,

What a splendid Holy Week and Easter we had at St. Michael’s.  My thanks go to all who contributed in any way – and it was good to have such positive feedback from visitors and locals alike.

But – it is all very exhausting and so Jane and I enjoyed a little relaxation in the days which followed.  We travelled down to London and fulfilled a long-held ambition by going to see ‘The Lion King’ at the Lyceum Theatre.  Tickets had been booked months in advance and the performance was all that the reviews promised it would be.

Something much more ‘last minute’ was a trip to the top of The Shard – London’s tallest building with the top viewing platform being over 800 feet high.  We treated ourselves to a glass of champagne and spent over an hour simply marvelling at the impressive views in every direction on a clear, bright morning.

I was reminded of the famous song of the Carpenters ‘I’m on top of the world looking down on creation …’

Looking down on thousands of visitors and business people milling around as well as ordinary folk going about their daily routines also reminded me of the way in which God looks down on each of us, knows each of us by name and loves us with an everlasting love.

As God continues to look down on the whole of creation his view is far more complete that that which we had from the top of The Shard; his view takes in every aspect of humanity and he places himself alongside each of his beloved children no matter what circumstance they find themselves in.

The great message of Easter is that God’s love is expressed most fully in the sign of the empty cross.  Having died for our sins on the cross of shame, that same wood becomes the cross of glory through the power of the resurrection.

As we continue to celebrate the triumph of Christ’s resurrection in the fifty days that lead us to Pentecost perhaps, each day, we could, metaphorically, imagine ourselves looking down on God’s creation and praying for its well-being – giving thanks for all that is good and praying for improvements where things have fallen short of God’s purposes.

The month of May includes Christian Aid week when the sad plight of much of humanity is brought more clearly into focus.  Giving ourselves a mental glimpse of all that our loving God looks down on will, I hope, stir us to generosity that might help, in some small way, to improve God’s view.

Remember, at the completion of creation, God looked down and the view was very good ….

With every blessing,

Paul. 

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