Curate Conundrums

In times like these It’s sometimes hard to think about the joy in life, and in a society where depression and loneliness are an absolute epidemic, where we are fed a constant stream of negativity in order that we’re easier to control, and the general injustice that pervades the world, it’s easy to despair. But today is not about that. It’s not about doom and gloom. Whatever emotional state you find yourself in, I welcome you, we acknowledge it, and we say it’s okay. However, fundamentally the Christian Gospel is about joy. As much as it is about sadness. Our role as Christians is not to feel constantly bad about ourselves, or the state of the world, but to rejoice in the fact that there is a God that loves us, and cares about us. Just cast your mind back, to a time of absolute joy in your life, when you were happiest. Perhaps the thrill of being in love for the first time, that sense of absolute joy when you were with that person, when they loved you back, when all you wanted...

There are times in our lives when separation is needed. Separation though sometimes painful is often a time of great growth. Cast your minds back to when you first left home, if indeed you have left home yet. Or if you haven’t think of a time when you were away from your parents for an extended period of time for the first time. Did it fill you with exhilaration or dread? Was it a wonderful occasion or a time of  immense sadness for you? I’ll never forget when I left home for the first time. My Dad turned up and we packed the car up with all the things I’d need. The journey from the small Norfolk village I grew up in, to Sheffield was a long one. Initially I was excited, I couldn’t wait to start my independent life, and I enthusiastically loaded the car up, almost bouncing along, like Super Mario. Until, the moment of separation, the moment when it was time to leave, and suddenly the emotions welled up inside me. This was the end of one way of living, the end of my ...