February 2012 - From the Vicarage.
By the time you read this I will have arrived in Collingham and I hope I will be finding my feet. What will the year hold for me-and for you? Much of it is an unknown but we are looking forward to the Queen celebrating 60 years on the throne and also to the Olympic Games taking place in this country. On the 19th June the Olympic Torch will be carried between Collingham and Harewood as part of its relay journey around the British Isles to London. Many different people will take their turn and then pass it on to the next runner. They will be supported as they do so by friends and family and by those around them.
I feel that I too am picking up a torch at this time. The torch of the light of the Christian presence in this area which has been burning since the earliest years of Christianity, certainly since Saxon times. Across those centuries many people have lived their lives following Christ and by their example and teaching have ensured that others will carry the light forward. None of them have done it alone. It is a responsibility which is shared.
I could name the men and women who have shaped me in my faith: some whom I have known personally and others who have influenced me by their writings. I hope that sometimes I may have been instrumental in helping those who will come after me to find their road to God but often we never know what effect we have in other people’s lives.
I wonder who shaped your faith – was it your parents, a teacher or Sunday school teacher or a vicar or church leader? Or was it a friend or work colleague whom you realised had something in their life that you were drawn to? And is there anyone to whom you will pass on your faith? We might not get the opportunity to carry the Olympic flame but we each have the opportunity to pass on what is important to us to those around us and to those who will come after.
Best wishes to you all
Sylvia Earle