Pastor’s Viewpoint - July 25, 2023

Mary Magdalene is an inspiring fig- ure in St John’s Gospel. Its’s the story of coming to faith in the resurrection: she leaves in the dark, in the first light she doesn’t recognise Jesus, then finally, Jesus calls her by name, and she stands in the light of faith.

In St John’s Gospel the contrast of light and dark, life and death are stark images. Mary’s love leads her into the light, into eternal life.

We are encouraged by Mary’s exam- ple to let ourselves be drawn to Jesus, to spend time in prayer and reading the

scriptures, so that we might ‘come into the light’. We find the same longing in Psalm 62: ‘“My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God”; “my body pines for you like a dry weary land without water”.

For those of us who have lived through droughts the image can’t help but grab us.

May we yearn to be ever more closely united with the God of love, so that we might be the witnesses God calls us to be.