FROM THE MISITRY TEAM

This morning, I was trying, with the benefit of Google Maps, to find the best route from Coddenham to Ipswich station. My usual route, along the Henley Road, was closed. Much to my surprise, there were too many alternatives, on top of one another, to make sense of them on my phone! Did I prefer to go through Barham, Sproughton, or via the Asda junction, the Norwich Road, or down the Hadleigh Road, or via Westerfield, or a back road through Hemingstone – heaven help if a lorry had tried that! There were so many close to home and one another, that my usual alternative route via Witnesham didn’t even show up! I’ve just checked again and the shortest route currently involves the A14 and the Wherstead Road!

Recently, we’ve suffered more than usual, I think, with potholes (about which much has been said elsewhere!) road works and road closures. A journey that might normally take 15 or 20 minutes can end up taking 30 or 40 or longer, as we navigate the diversions. To say nothing about the effect of traffic light controlled road works which – often three way controlled - can be a nightmare on popular roads at peak times. Just a drive into Ipswich earlier this week necessitated three longish waits and I imagine road works and traffic lights contributed to the myriad options I was given this morning.

It struck me, as I was thinking about this, how often our journeys by road raise practical issues that you could say mirror the mental and spiritual issues we face in our journeys through life. Quite a light-hearted thought, maybe, but with a serious note underneath.

How often do we plan on a course of action, but, through no fault of our own, often because of something outside our control, we are diverted from that path. Sometimes we feel lost as a result, directionless where we had thought that we knew where we were going. It can often be very difficult to navigate an alternative path to get to the same end point – to know the pitfalls or complications that might be involved in the different choices available to us.

Sometimes, we face traffic lights which delay us in our journeys and something we want or are working towards, is put off into the future. We are not always patient and happy to wait.

We are used to keeping a weather eye out for potholes but from time to time one catches us unawares and we shudder as the car bounces into some very deep holes and we can’t see the damage that’s been done. The same is true of life. How may times are we faced with health issues, job or relationship problems, that hit us when least expected and can leave us unsettled and anxious.

Think, too, about the choices we have to make, even when the roads are flowing freely. Do we need to turn right or left at a junction, which exit should we take off a roundabout? Is it safe to go faster at this point, overtake someone in front of us?

In all that we face in life, all the choices we make, or the hurdles we encounter, we can take strength, courage, support and advice from Jesus and what we learn of him from his words and actions 2000 years ago as well as from the words of those who came after him and continued his work.

Jesus can, if we are prepared to learn from him, show us the right path to follow, and help us to find it again if we become diverted. He will encourage us to resist temptations around us – it is so easy to be caught up with material possessions and lose sight of what is really important. If we welcome him, he can be with us in times of trouble, helping our anxieties and bringing us calm and peace. And when we are sorry for the things that we’ve done that are wrong, he forgives us.

He tells us that we should love one another. This type of love – which St Paul subsequently wrote about - is not the sort of romantic love we see in films, (although Paul’s words are very appropriate when a couple looks to marry and is thinking of a template for their relationship) or what we might say when we feel more than liking for something – I love ice cream or I love football.

Paul says that if you love, you’re patient and kind. You don’t envy or boast and you’re not proud. You’re not rude or self seeking, not easily angered and you don’t keep a record of wrong doing. This love rejoices in the truth. It protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. He finishes by saying that three things remain: faith, hope and love and that the greatest of these is love. All that explains the love that Jesus and his Father have for us.

So whether you’re facing or you’ve fallen into a pothole, you’ve been forced off the path you were on and are lost or delayed, or if you have choices in front of you as to what path to take, remember what St Paul said and let the love that he spoke of, the love of Jesus and his father guide you, support you and give you courage and peace.

Rev Helen Norris