A QUESTION OF FAITH
With Revd Gary Weston St John’s Church, Hinckley
I am writing this sat in a caravan in the middle of a feild at a festival just outside of Peterborough.
From 7.30am until midnight each day the choice of things happening is vast, there are comedians and quizzes, films, food, music and talks on topics ranging from human trafficking to being a good grandparent.
What makes this festival different is that most of the people on site, around 12000 people, are Christians and amongst all the other things that are going twice a day all the adults, while the children are looked after in there own groups by an army of trained volunteers, gather in 4 main venues to worship together.
This is week 2 of this festival, which is called New Wine. Around 12000 different people gathered last week, in a few weeks time a festival called Soul Survivor, which is for older teenagers and young adults, happens on the same site and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are Christian festivals up and down the country from Keswick to the New Forrest and beyond that happen each summer and have been for years.
As I sit here in the heat of today and the rather large muddy puddle caused by yesterdays epic downpour slowly drys out, the question in my head is why do we do this?!
The answer for many of us on site is that joining together to talk about faith, to worship God together, to prayer together is uplifting, encouraging and incredibly rewarding. It helps many to find the kind of life that Jesus talks about in the Bible in John chapter 10 verse 10, life in all it’s fullness.
What strikes me most of all, as the vibrancy of the site is all around me, is that neither the Church or Christianity in this country is dead, despite what we hear from many places these days.
Well it certainly is not here nor is it at any other of the Christian gatherings happening this summer nor is it in countless Churches I have visited or been a part of up and down this country and indeed around the world where Christians gather week by week.
Maybe its time to put aside what you think you know about church, the things that have been passed down to you from previous generations and give Church another go - if you don’t find life in the first one you visit try another and then another until you find the life that Jesus promises.