It won’t all fit!  The simple fact is that the home we will soon be moving to is smaller than the Rectory; things have to go.  Each move generates more new stuff, but we keep the old just in case.

How much time and energy has gone into storing and moving belongings that we no longer use?  Now, faced with moving to a smaller house, it’s got to go.  And so we are opening boxes, burrowing into the back of cupboards, reviewing old albums to see what we can find.  It can be a joyful, if time-consuming exercise.  We are only going 50 miles up the road but there is much to do.

A home is full of memories, hopes and fears; past, present and future.  At the moment the Rectory is very much in the present; empty spaces where items have been moved on or packed already, piles of things to be sorted covering floors and table tops.  Meanwhile we are increasingly living in two places as we gradually move our attention and possessions to our new home.  It’s a slow process and one reason why we carry so much redundant ‘stuff’.  Almost every move we have undertaken until now has been at short notice; so we simply packed everything.  The pressure to downsize or shed belongings wasn’t there.  This time is different; we have known for months where and when we are moving.  Almost too long, there’s plenty of time, tomorrow will do.  Now tomorrow is fast approaching, will we be ready?

As Christians we all live with two homes; this world and the next.  Our lives, like our homes, slowly fill with half-forgotten memories and experiences; some are joyfully recalled, others best forgotten but some, hidden from view for a season, are unfinished business still waiting to be addressed.   Perhaps we know that these, too, must one day be faced, but not today.  Maybe we open the cupboard in our memory, pull things out, dust them off then put them back.  Now is not the time, we tell ourselves, but when is?

On the night of his arrest Jesus told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them (John 14:2,3).  He was trying to encourage them ahead of his execution, but his words  ‘If I go and prepare I will come again for you, so that where I am, you may be also, also contain a challenge, both for them and for us.  Are we ready, or are we still carrying ‘stuff’ that should have gone long ago?

Rev’d Philip  Payne                                                       Easter 5 2024                           The Notice Sheet for 28th April can be found here

Sunday 28th April – Evening Prayer at St Mary’s at 6.30pm.  Al welcome.