Writing from the Rectory - July 2025

In the film adaptation of Paddington the thoughtful bear learns that talking about the weather is a way to strike up conversation with strangers, so he goes about this by learning as many English expressions for rain as he can: ‘chucking it down’, ‘cats and dogs’, ‘pelting’. What other expressions can you think of?

We had longed for fine weather and yet farmers and gardeners are more aware than most of our dependency on rain. If there is one thing which unites us all, it’s water. In biblical times there developed the practice of celebrating the harvest by waving palm branches which, taken in large numbers, would make the sound of rain. It was a form of thanksgiving for the gathered crops and a prayer to God for sufficient rain for the following year. Jesus compares himself to the refreshing qualities of water. In chapter 7 of St John’s Gospel it says, ‘On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”’ The reference to water has often been used in the bible to mean the transformative power of the Holy Spirit and this is to be found by following Jesus.

Maybe you need refreshment and transformation but don’t know where to find it. Jesus promises that if we seek him, he will fill us with the Holy Spirit that we thirst for. However, the quotation goes further than a simple invitation to receive from Jesus. It explains that those who believe in Jesus will themselves go out into the world and provide refreshment and transformation to the world around them! In effect Jesus is saying you will become a source of God’s goodness for other people.

Paddington came to London hoping someone would adopt him. In so doing the Brown family became for him a source of living water. In one episode his marmalade sandwiches provide a welcome snack to various zoo animals and demonstrate his ‘paying it forward’, his being a source of refreshment to others. Can you think of someone in your life that has been a source of refreshment and transformation perhaps through random acts of kindness? Could you present them with a framed picture of a jug of water?

Blessings,
Revd Andrew