Welcome to St Swithins Church

By The Rev Matt earwicker

"Villages - March 2025"

What is the meaning of life?

It’s a question I have been pondering a lot recently. As we look at the news, you would be forgiven for thinking that it is about money or power. All the big ques-tions in politics at the moment seem to be about the economy or conflicts. And both are important. Money is necessary for building a better society, and power, when rightly used, can bring about great improvements. But they are both a means, not an end in themselves.

One answer would be that the meaning of life is to have a fulfilling life. But what is fulfilling? It is certainly true that a society where everyone is able to do something they are good at and love is going to be happier than one where they cannot, but I don’t believe that is quite the whole story.

The first story of the Bible, shared by Jews and Christians alike, tells us that when God created the world, he said that everything was good, with one exception - “it is not good for man to be alone”. We were made to be in a community, living and working for each other as well as ourselves. For historians, one of the signs of the development of humanity as we see it is the evidence of a broken bone that has healed. We are truly human when we can help each other over difficult times ra-ther than simply abandoning the weak to their fate. Our search for our own fulfil-ment will be impoverished if we aren’t part of a community.

Monotheistic religions (those that believe in one God) would add that part of the meaning of life is to live in relation to that God. One of the statements of the Christian faith claims that “the chief end of man is to love God and enjoy him for-ever.”

All of these sources of meaning clearly have their place, but I would like to add an-other couple of ideas: “awe” and “wonder”.

Throughout the Bible we find people struck in awe at the wonderful world we live in and the God who made it. One of my favourites is a comment by Job where he declares that God “overturns mountains without them even knowing it”! The writ-er of Psalm 8 is overwhelmed as he looks to the heavens, the moon and all the stars in all their immensity, and realises how small we must seem in comparison. And yet, he writes, God has made us “only a little lower than angels and crowned [us] with glory and power”.

I believe a great part of our purpose as humans is to engage with the world in which we live with similar wonder. Isn’t it amazing to watch a spider weave a web, or to see the power of a rocket launching off into space? How on earth can animal guts being scratched by horse hair make transport us to another place? What about the sight of a parent providing that place of safety and love to a new-born child? And most amazingly of all, I believe, how unbelievably wonderful that the God who made the whole universe should become a little baby, grow up, and die on a cross so that even those doing the killing might experience his love!

I know these are tough times for many people at the moment, where money is short and decisions are being made by others that leave you feeling powerless. I hope and pray, however, that you still have time to pause in wonder and awe at this precious, fragile world of ours, and the God who made it for us to live in.

"Hope in Springtime"

‘Hope is the bird that waits for dawn and sings while it is still dark.’

This is one of my favourite quotations, which particularly comes to mind this month as the birds start to sing melodiously and signs of colour start to appear in our gardens. The long dark months of winter are over, and we can imagine once again those hazy lazy days of summer.

And as the light of the days lengthens, we enter the celebration of the Son, Easter. April is certainly the month of hope.

Yet looking at our news headlines, hope feels in short supply. It is hard to remain hopeful for our planet, as world leaders vie for power, and our extreme weather systems indicate all is not well. Sitting in our crowded cathedral at the beginning of Lent speaking to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and hearing her story of imprisonment as a hostage in Iran and injustice, I was reminded of a religious painting in the Methodist Art Collection. The painting is of the inside of the tomb on Easter morning. It shows the stone rolled away, not allowing us in, but allowing us to step out.

Nazanin recalled her experience of re-adjusting to the light of freedom. Stepping out into a life of hope means adjusting to a long-term view, believing that there is more goodness to come. It means enjoying the colour now and living in the hope of all eternity.

As Christians Easter strengthens our belief that hope triumphs over despair, that light overcomes the darkness, and love wins. That is our song, which together we are called to sing. Despite everything, including the differences we live with every day, Jesus is Lord, the stone was rolled away so we can walk free and know eternal life.

God Bless

Bishop Karen