On Bank Holiday Monday I visited the Nene Valley Railway, as you will see from this week’s picture. Although the weather wasn’t at its best, it was nice to walk lineside and see the trains as they passed by. There was a flavour of the coming 80th anniversary of D-Day, as all the locomotives had a link with the Second World War by virtue of their names; Royal Auxiliary Air Force (Battle of Britain class locomotive), Royal Tank Regiment (‘Peak’ class 45) and The Black Watch (‘Deltic’ class 55). I know some will be interested in the locomotives!
There’s a story that goes like this; A vicar used to run down to the local level crossing part way through his Sunday morning service, much to the annoyance of the congregation, but nevertheless he did it every week – just to see the train pass through the parish. When questioned why he did this, his reply was “It is the only thing in the parish I don’t have to push.” Of course, I don’t have to do that here, as there are many people who put in a lot of effort to enable events to take place within the parishes.
As we have just celebrated Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, it reminded me that God provides us with the power and tools to carry out his mission of spreading the Good News on earth; it is we as his disciples that need to do the work. We are all on the front line of God’s mission, and need to train and hone our God-given gifts to carry out our calling. I pray that we will discover the talents that each of us has been given, and use them to the best of our ability for God’s plans!
With God’s Blessing
Rev Graham
