TOMORROW’S SUNDAY

My grandfather was a blacksmith, who worked for 48 years in the shipyards in Wallsend on the Tyne. My memories of him was of someone of great energy even well into his seventies and in particular his huge forearms. He had a shed in the back garden of his house and this was frequently a hive of industry. He would disappear for hours and emerge with something he had created. One day it was a wooden sledge, or a wheelbarrow he’d made for me – I was really proud of them – or it was some gadget that would be helpful in the house. He had an amazing creative mind and the skills in his hands to bring those ideas into being. I tell his story because this is the time that many churches have their harvest celebrations, which is a celebration not only of the bounty of creation, but also of human creativity and labour. Human creativity is a marvellous thing – just think of what is happening in this region, the city. The work done, the things made, the services offered, the care given and received. Think of what happens across the world each and every day and how we reap the bounty of creation and the miracle of life. For me as a Christian I want to celebrate human creativity as a part of God’s creative life, which is woven into the very weave of our communities and into the world itself. When we talk of God as Creator we don’t have to get hung up on debates about whether he did the job in six days but we are talking of God’s creative life and love shaping our world, bringing things into being. Creation is not some event in the past – it continues and we are partners in the work. Today I want to celebrate human creativity working with God’s creative power. Like my grandfather, I doubt you think in those terms but it is true – called to set into creation all that is necessary and life-sustaining. So whatever you do, celebrate your God given creative spirit. St Paul reminds us “If you sow bountifully you will also reap bountifully”. Stuart Bain, Archdeacon of Sunderland