This splendid manor house in which we stayed was designed by that great and prolific Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was to be his family home; a wonderful gothic pile perched majestically above Torquay.
Yet he lived only long enough to see the foundations laid before dying, leaving the final construction to others.
That all felt rather poignant on Thursday as we gathered for Morning Prayer and as a group tried out a new liturgy for the season of All Saints. During the prayer time we were invited to name out loud someone from our past who helped lay the foundations of our faith. I named Donald MacKenzie, my senior minister from the church in which as I served as assistant minister, he was a great mentor during those first five years after ordination.
That moment, hearing nothing but names, yet recognising that to everyone who spoke them these names meant the world, was deeply touching.
Tomorrow at Amersham we’ll be commissioning our Junior Church Teachers for another year of Christian service and I’m sure part of their ministry is to help lay a foundation for our children upon which faith can be built. It’s an important task and we give thanks to God for those who have done it in our own lives.
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