One of the great gifts and challenges we face in life is the ability to make choices. Free will seems at the same time to be a wonderful gift and an opportunity for disaster. The choices we make define our character and shape our future. We have big choices about career, relationships where we live. But there are also daily important choices about how we live and relate to each other.

One of the biggest choices we face is about what we believe and what principles we will live our life by. As a young man, fresh out of school, I thought that all this religion stuff was nonsense. One had to be stupid or feeble to believe all this impossible stuff about miracles and Jesus rising from the dead. It all happened so long ago, it can’t be relevant to today.

Then I met people who followed Jesus who were not stupid and who were not feeble. I made the decision to look into this Christianity thing. Fortunately at the time a friend of a friend attended a good church in Bristol, where I was working on road bridges—actually it was the A38 north of Bristol where they were testing Concord at the time. The sound of the engines was awesome! At the church they had a discussion group for people wanting to ask questions about faith. I went along, bribed by the promise of a meal of faggots (my friend was an impoverished member of the BBC orchestra). I found the group really helpful and clearly found grounds for faith and a real experience of God’s love. As a result of my own experience I am very keen that anyone who is interested in exploring faith has an opportunity to do that in a safe place.

I am starting our next series of Just Looking Groups (a chance to explore questions of faith) in October this year. For people who decide to make a commitment of faith, there is an opportunity to do that when the Bishop of Wakefield comes to lead a confirmation service in     November at St Peters. So if you are interested in exploring faith or confirmation, please get in touch. Come along to our group and make your choice.

Rev Bill Henderson