I read an article saying that some of our Churches could disappear by 2040. That does sadden me. For sure, the Roman Catholic Church will survive perhaps because it has an unbroken tradition that keeps people strong. I realize the pain there is in all of that if you do not fit into the narrow criteria that defines us. People have been different in many ways for centuries and the Roman Church has lived with those differences without supporting them. The Roman Catholic Church will not change I do believe and their numbers, although diminished in many of the wealthy countries, in the Church remains strong in all other countries. Why am I not Roman Catholic? I am Catholic; I made my pilgrimage to Rome and worshipped at the feet of Peter. I attended St Peters Basilica every day that we were there to worship at the many altars remembering all of my family and praying that our world would be forever in God's heart. As I viewed the ancient relics in the Vatican Museum and gazed up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel I could sense the hundreds of years of worship which have happened in that place (perhaps it was the adoration of those around me mostly Italian as we were there in November). When the Pope waved out the window; I waved back; he was also my Pope. But I am Anglican; the faith of my ancestors runs in my veins and perhaps stronger now as I have read their own personal wills talking about their faith and their burial. Their wills were written with their love of God first and paramount so that there was no mistaking their adoration for Jesus who had died for their sins. But long ago the Anglican Church was excommunicated and as a Church we accept that and have moved along through the centuries continuing to respect and love the Pope although have no choice in his selection. Perhaps there is a lesson in that; the Church that Jesus founded is not a democracy - God is at its head and we believe in the Trinity - God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Even after all those years since Excommunication my Grandfather taught me that to take the mass in the Roman Catholic Church was to deny Elizabeth her rightful place as Queen of England and that happened over four hundred years ago now but when he was being taught back in the school room of the Upper Clatford Parish Church (Anglican) that was what he learned in the 1870s and 1880s. Love and respect the Pope; but Elizabeth was our Queen. Did it weaken the Anglican Church? probably a little.
It is wondrous to wake up each day and know that God is with us. The sermon today reminded me again that loving God is so much a part of us. But like the young man mentioned; God is in the world and I believe that He demands we live the perfect life that Jesus lived (I certainly fall short but each day I do try). We must first love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength. The second is like onto it we must love our neighbours as ourselves. God does not interfere in the lives of mankind any more; He sent us Jesus to teach us how to live; we must always fight the good fight and our fight at the moment is COVID.
Yesterday I completed the Kip-Kipp Family Newsletter which did rather surprise me. The material was all there and I had decided on a Newsletter of 16 to 20 pages at the moment. I am on page 16 and there will be a few fill-in items but I reached a good stopping point and called the section What do we know about Hendrick Hendricksen Kip part 1 (1600? - 1643). The next section will complete Hendrick and will be part II (1643-1685). I never really thought about it before but he would have been around 85 years of age when he died.
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