Contemporary life has witnessed a burgeoning of wellbeing manuals, self-help guides and ‘Be Good To Yourself’ programmes. There is much to commend a renewed focus on mental health, a fact of which I am regularly reminded in an educational setting, though we should be wary of the commercialisation and quick-fix attitude of many such endeavours. The goal and summit of human life is not, on its own, simple happiness in, of and by ourselves but that union with God for which we pray and long.

It has to be said that Christianity has not been without its self-help prophets who distort Our Lord’s words from today’s gospel (‘Why did you doubt?’) to imply that we can will our own good behaviour. Well, as Jesus makes his way across choppy waters to a vessel of distressed disciples, and as Peter fails to reach him by attempting the same, we are reminded of the great chasm that exists between God’s activity and human weakness. Christian wellbeing, and therefore by extension all human wellbeing, must be foremost a being in touch with our emptiness in the light of God’s fullness. It is, as Meister Eckhart was to say, a recognition that whilst God’s love and mercy is ever-present, ever without condition, we are often sadly out to lunch!

Our following in the Way is not a check-list of daily tasks which, once completed, will see us walking across water or marching into heaven, but a daily acceptance of the Grace that makes up our deficiency. Our surrender, in the words of St Thérèse of Lisieux, is the bridge that connect human inadequacy to the divine self-offering. Let us throw ourselves into the arms of Jesus, who will not only save us but return us to a safe harbour and a blessed rest.

With more than a little nod to early roots in Non-Conformism, I offer you the rather splendid ‘Will your anchor hold’ as our hymn today. The refrain offers a direct response to the initial question:

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
steadfast and sure while the billows roll;
fastened to the rock which cannot move,
grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love!

You can listen to it by clicking here

Our anthem today is Stanford’s gentle setting of ‘O for a closer walk with God’, reminding us that Christ’s light marks the road of our journey through life and death, click here to listen.