VICAR

Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your families are well. If You are away on a half term holiday, enjoy and relax.

I am writing this message to You last Tuesday as by the time You read it I will be on the beach in Dubai.

Today We heard of the death of the DJ Steve Wright, who touched so many of Our lives. Tomorrow (last Wednesday for You) is Ash Wednesday when We are reminded of Our mortality and begin the period of Lent.

Death is not the way things were meant to be, and Jesus, of all people, knows it. Yet even as we grieve, we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:26 calls death an enemy, but its time is coming: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

John 11:25-26. “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.’

Please take time now to remember those who were once close to You who have died. The following prayer can be personalised and used to pray for them. God Bless You All.

O God, whose mercies cannot be numbered: Accept our prayers on behalf of thy servant XXXX., and grant him/her an entrance into the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of thy saints; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.