Articles - From the Clergy

It was a good few years ago that I first heard the 'AMEN…YES' approach to life. In a nutshell, it means saying 'Amen' ('So be it') to everything that has gone before this moment, and 'Yes' to everything that will come after, whatever that may be.

Christian teaching says that God is all-present, all-knowing and all-powerful. God inhabits all time and space; God knows everything; there is nothing God cannot do. So it seems to me the things of the past - our mistakes, failures, regrets, our achievements, the days in the sun, the dreams-come-true… and the things of the future - our highest hopes and biggest fears - all these things are best given into the hands of this God for safe-keeping. Saying 'Amen' to the past and 'Yes' to the future is a good way of doing this. It means entrusting everything to God and in doing so finding ourselves freed to live in the present, which is the only bit we actually live in, anyway!

This is all very pertinent as I contemplate leaving St Edmund's, because being among you all has helped me to gain closure on, and say 'Amen' to, some aspects of my past; and that in turn helps when I turn to the challenges of the future and am able to say 'Yes!'.

Part of the 'Amen' for me includes a big thank you to the people of St Edmund's - for your love and kindness and fellowship which have meant more to me than you will know. And in saying 'Yes' to the future, I am - with your permission - also commending each of you to God's care as together we walk with him into the unknown.

For all our yesterdays, 'Amen'. For all our tomorrows, 'Yes!'

With much love from Steve Smith

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay