St Chads Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats email: office@stchads.org Church Offices: 15 Camping Lane, Sheffield S8 0GB Page 2 web site: stchads.org Tel: (0114) 274 5086
home Welcome to the February and March <strong>2007</strong> edition of Impact. This is a time of year when light is in short supply; the weather is not at its best and many of us appreciate closing the front door at night, retreating to the comfort and safety of home. So ‘Home’ seems an appropriate theme for this edition. Our homes are very important to us - so much so that many songs have been written about home, including: Chris Rea’s ’Driving home for Christmas’; Simon & Garfunkle’s ’Home-ward Bound’; Marvin Gaye’s ’Where-ever I lay my hat, that’s my home’ and John Denver’s ’Take me home country roads’. There are also many magazines about our homes, including: ’Homes and Garden’; ’Woman & Home’; ’Good Homes’ and ’Ideal Home’. And if you have Freeview, a little channel surfing will soon turn up a TV programme about homes, such as ’Home Front’ and ’Homes under the Hammer’, plus loads without the word ‘home’ in the title! So, why the interest in homes? Partly, of course, because they play such a big part in our lives - but more pointedly because your home says a great deal about you, as well as being a place where you live and therefore belong. Each one of us has a need to belong - to belong to a family or a community bigger than ourselves, and our homes provide a place for this. Interestingly, Jesus enjoyed spending time in people’s homes and also talked about our need for a spiritual home. His famous story (often called The Prodigal Son) is all about a lad who was rude to his father and left home, and soon discovered (when things got tough) that he was rootless and sad. That’s how many feel who stray away from God. When he came to his senses and finally returned, what did he find? An angry Father? This is how many of us expect God to be, but in fact he found quite the opposite. Jesus tells of a heavenly Father who runs to embrace his son and then throws a big party to celebrate his return! The Father, in fact, has been watching and waiting all this time, anticipating his son’s home-coming. St Chad’s is a church where quite a number have been ’away’ from God, but have chosen to return - and as they've done so, they’ve discovered that there is a heavenly Father who welcomes us home. Is that your experience too? Enjoy this magazine and it’s ’home’ theme. It may even encourage some to make a conscious decision to return to the strong, embracing arms of our heavenly Father - and to discover the security and peace of coming ‘home’ to God. Matthew Porter (Vicar—St Chad’s Church, Sheffield) St Chads Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats email: office@stchads.org Church Offices: 15 Camping Lane, Sheffield S8 0GB Page 3 web site: stchads.org Tel: (0114) 274 5086