Mark Carey writes

Some of you will be very familiar with the hymn – Abide With Me – I love the fact that it is sung at every FA Cup Final. It is also a familiar funeral hymn which makes it seem like it is all about death when, in fact, it is about relationship with God throughout the whole of life, which includes the time of death. This week I’ve been thinking about a line in the second verse:

“Change and decay in all around I see, O thou who changest not, abide with me”

It seems particularly appropriate to have such words in mind as we navigate the ongoing challenges of less, limits and loss, a change of Prime Minister, an increasing awareness of the Queen’s increasingly frail health, and as we contemplate the war in Ukraine and floods in Pakistan. Change and decay is all around. But God doesn’t change – he is faithful and abides with us.