500 Words - the Final Countdown!

Pause for Thought

From Rev Rob Gillion, Rector of Holy Trinity Church and St Saviours.

We are five days into Lent and my resolve is still holding in my discipline of prayer and fasting. But more than that I resolved to be more forgiving and pray that others will be kinder with my failings too. Lent is the season of forgiveness. Jesus was good at it, I often find it a challenge. I have lots to ask forgiveness for and pray that I have the spirit of forgiveness for others.

However my forgiving nature was stretched to the limit last week as a young man, caught on CCTV but not recognised broke through the panel of one of our stained glass windows in the Church. He set off the alarms and left with nothing. My first reaction was shock and anger. I wanted him caught and dealt with.

I has just been to see ‘Les Miserables’ and recalled the forgiving nature of the Bishop. I then remembered the young people we work with from the inner city who over the years have seen such wonderful changes in their behaviour and their relationships.

It’s still never plain sailing but with a sense of worth and the gift of forgiveness, the ability to say sorry there is always hope.

So I pray for the young man who was so desperate that he resorted to break through a stained glass window, a window which reflects the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately he couldn’t see it in the darkness of the night and perhaps the darkness of his life, and hope for transformation for him and for us all and the strength to forgive and be forgiven and I suppose in the light of ‘Les Miserables’ if he returns I should give him a couple of candlesticks!!