THE VICARS LETTER

MORE THAN GOLD AT THE OLYMPICS

I don’t ever remember seeing so much of a winter Olympics as this year.  With the first week over half term we were able to watch far more than usual and having the games in Europe saved those late nights of Salt Lake City.  Added to that our one venture onto the ski slopes last year made us all the more appreciative of the Downhill and Super G - terrifying!

One event I have never seen before is the Freestyle Mogul skiing. As well as being judged on their speed, moguls specialists are assessed on how well they negotiate a course studded with tricky bumps known as moguls.  And, as if that was not tough enough, there are also two spectacular jumps which must be completed along the way. 

The bronze medal was won by Toby Dawson, now living in the USA but of Korean origin.  When pictures of his medal winning performance went round the world last week some Koreans noticed the similarity between Toby and a man called Kim Jae-su who lives in Seoul.  He saw the pictures himself and realised Toby must be the son he had lost in a busy street market 25 years ago.  He and his wife had searched for days for their two-year-old toddler but never thought to report his disappearance to the police.  They carried on visiting orphanages on their days off but by then Toby had been adopted and taken to Colorado.  He grew up thinking he had been abandoned by his parents.

All through those long years both Toby and his parents were living under the darkest cloud each believing something that just wasn’t true.  Now suddenly that cloud has blown away and they can live again with their lives established fair and square on what is true. We may hear more as their story unfolds.

For us the clouds of unreality can creep up on us and lead us to think that the way we live is perfectly normal and OK.  Lent is a time to let God blow away the clouds and find the really important things in life - the truth that Jesus gives us that will set us free.  John 8:31.

This year we are having a Lent Course on Wednesday evenings and either Tuesday or Thursday afternoons.  We will be looking at key moments along the way for Jesus as he went to the Cross and finding parallels in contemporary films and in our own lives.  We know that God keeps his eye on us every moment and will never let us go!

You are all invited to come and join us in St. Paul’s church starting with Ash Wednesday Holy Communion 8pm on March 1st and then every Wednesday at 7.30pm until Easter.

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