DO YOU FEEL LOVED? NEEDED? ACCEPTED?
written by the Team Rector, Revd. Gary Cregeen
June marks a significant turning
point in my life - it was in June 1992
that I was made redundant by
Albright and Wilson - a large
chemical works located in
Whitehaven, until a few years ago.
The announcement came as a
surprise, especially as previous
personal job appraisals had always
been positive and affirming. Along
with my colleagues I remember
being summoned to the Personnel
Department where we were told
our ‘fate’, individually.
Due to re-organisation I was told
that I was “no longer part of the
plan”. However, upon receiving this
‘bombshell’ I didn’t feel anger so
much as pain. None of us like to be
regarded as ’surplus to
requirements’, do we? Well, that is
how I felt and as you read this
article you may identify with such
feelings of hurt. However, as a
Christian I knew that God,
somehow, had a purpose for what
was happening to me and around
me, which provided a real sense of
comfort, strength and peace. In the
Bible, in Jeremiah, we read: “For I
know the plans I have for you,”
declares the LORD, “plans to
prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you hope and
a future”. Despite what was
happening around me and to me it
was a wonderful assurance to
know that I wasn’t ‘surplus to
requirements’ in God’s eyes because none of us are. Do you
realise you are loved, needed
and accepted by God? Because
you are!
A short while ago I read one of the
more obscure books in the Bible Lamentations. The book, also
written by Jeremiah, contains
graphic detail of his grief following
the destruction of Jerusalem. In his
lament Jeremiah reflects on the
need for God’s people to return to
God and the wonderful
compassion that awaits those who
return to Him. Hence, the call for
repentance or ‘turning back’ in
Lamentations 3 v.40: ‘Let us
examine our ways and test
them, and let us return to the
Lord’. There are turning points in
each of our lives which provoke us
to take a long look at who we are