Mark Carey writes:

Mark Carey writes:

Please remember to sign up for the Network Weekend 9th-11th May – celebrating in the midst of our diversity that we are One Network – you can find out more by clicking this link https://ccbn.org.uk/network-weekend

 Last Sunday evening I spoke about that encounter between Jesus and Peter that we call Peter’s Reinstatement (John 21:14-21). What Jesus seemed to be most focussed on was enabling Peter to reconnect with His love and continue to follow.

 I talked about the R’s of Following

 Restoration – we are restored for a purpose – to follow all the days of our lives. Our restoration becomes our story.

 Remember – In John’s gospel Jesus started with the invitation to “come and see” and it ends with “Follow me”. For you, me and Peter we must remember our acceptance of the call to follow and that it continues for all the days of our lives.

 Realism – Jesus tells Peter the cost of following. He is very realistic, doesn’t sugar-coat it. There is a cost to following Jesus – are we being realistic about this?

 Road – Jesus was calling for Peter to focus on the road laid out before him – following the call that God has given him. Instead, Peter got distracted he wanted to know what would happen to one of the other disciples – Jesus tells him to mind his own business and keep on following. We need, like Peter, to keep focussed on our call to follow in a world of distractions.

 Reorientate – the main thing we must do is keep orienting our lives to Jesus – He the one who is the way to follow. We can become disoriented like Peter and the other disciples by troubles and traumas – so let’s keep re-orienting our lives in relation to him.

The Rev Canon Mark Carey - Christ Church Bridlington Network