WELCOME TO OUR SUMMER EDITION FATHER PHIL RITCHIE ?Jesus came and stood among them and said, ?Peace be with you??he showed them his hands and his side?he breathed on them and said to them, ?Receive the Holy Spirit? " John 20.19-22 It might seem a strange thing to say but we are still becoming accustomed to being in relationship with God, we are not done with discerning the fullness of God?s love for us. St Iraeneus writes: ?The Word of God dwelt in man and became the Son of man in order to accustom man to perceive God?. Our relationship with God is not just one ever rising trajectory ? we have highs and lows. For many of us the last few months have been a particularly difficult time in our spiritual lives. A time when prayer and worship has been dislocated from its usual patterns. In some ways this vulnerability has also been a place of blessing. Rowan Williams powerfully describes the Holy Spirit as: ?? the pressure upon us towards Christ?s relationship with the Father, towards the self, secure enough in it rootedness and acceptance in the ?Father?, in the source and ground of
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