The cross is key to everything. An instrument of torture and death, it is also a symbol of God’s love and peace. On the cross Jesus died to deal with our sin and defeat the powers of death and evil. He identified with our sufferings and set us an example of self-sacrificial love. The idea of substitution lies at the heart of understanding what Jesus did on the cross: ‘For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices Himself for man and puts Himself where only man deserves to be.’ (John Stott)

Thy Kingdom Come’ (TKC) global prayer movement marks ten years. This year the global prayer movement Thy Kingdom Come will take place from Thursday 14th to Sunday 24thMay.

Spanning 11 days between Ascension and Pentecost, TKC encourages Christians to pray for five people whom they know (friends, families, neighbours) to come to faith. This year is a special one for Thy Kingdom Come. It was ten years ago, in 2016, that it began as a call to prayer from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

TKC has since grown into a global wave of prayer, involving tens of millions of Christians, in dozens of denominations, in almost 90% countries worldwide. To mark these first ten years, the new archbishop, Sarah Mullally, has written a Novena for the initiative.

This year’s theme is ‘God With Us’. With the help of leaders from across the church traditions, TKC will explore a different Bible story each day, one which demonstrates God’s transformative presence, power and love at work in the lives of people and communities. More information at: https://www.thykingdomcome.global/

June brings Fathers’ Day – this year on the 21st June. Our Christian faith teaches us to look at God as ‘Father’ - we address Him as such in the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, and it was Jesus’ custom to talk to God as ‘Father’. Maybe, taking into account those who have had a very mixed experience, or a bad experience of fathers, we should qualify what we say of God and call Him ‘the Good Father’, or ‘our Good Father’.

I think of the picture Jesus paints in the parable of the Prodigal Son; the father on the look-out for his wayward son day after day, and when he sees him in the distance runs all the way to him to embrace him. Now in Jesus’ time, in that culture, fathers did NOT run, least of all to welcome returning no-goods who had wasted half the father’s fortune. Fathers were people of dignity. Jesus has turned that on its head. We can be sure that a welcome awaits us; we turn to God, or return to God, and find that He’s already half-way towards us, coming at speed to embrace us.

By Rev Roy Shaw in ‘Parish Pump’.

pollybrown@mottramparish.org.uk

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