Suffering, what's the plan Lord? (Isaiah 25. 6-9, John 11.32-44)
Working at St Peter Mancroft can often be a challenge, in a good way. Our Parish is tiny, there are fewer than four hundred people living in it, so our parishoners are the transient people that pass through the bustling centre of Norwich. It’s almost like an island, standing still while the ocean of people and things move around it, but there it sits, open, inviting. One of the things with being an island though, is that boats will come, often these boats are filled with well to do tourists, camera snapping people, having a look round. There are spiritual pilgrims, who come in to pray, to sit and to think. Then there are other people with very complex needs, some who are extremely troubled or mentally ill, others who are going through a really tough time in their lives, and they cling to our Island for refuge from a storm. Here are two stories, that happened this week. Story One. Monday Evening, after the church was shut, choir rehearsals going on, twilight. A l