Off the back of Archbishop Justin’s welcome visit to the diocese, I was struck by the Morning Prayer readings last week, and especially by one verse from 2 Chronicles 19:

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

This Jehoshaphat was one of the more strategic kings of Judah, establishing networks of magistrates to ensure that justice was properly administered and sending off mission teams (ordained and lay) to ‘visit all the towns of Judah’ and teach people from the Law of the Lord. But along with his excellent skills at delegation, he never lost a personal commitment to the task in hand - to reaching out to those whom we might describe as the ‘dechurched’ and turning them back to their Lord and King.

I guess that many of us are enjoying the fresh opportunity to get out and about across our parishes following all the restrictions of the past eighteen months. Along with the need for good strategic thinking at a time like this, let’s pray too for a fresh enthusiasm in ‘drawing people back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors’.

Every blessing,

+Andrew