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Viewpoint from Rev Matthew Price 20/07/2018
 Rev Matthew Price
Minister of St Mary Magdalene Church, Gorleston
as published in the Yarmouth Mercury
I wonder what you’re looking forward to this summer. As I write, we have been basking in unusually warm temperatures for a number of weeks now. But, whatever the temperature when you read this, in the next few days the schools will all break up and the summer will have really begun. I am a relative newcomer to this area, but it seems to me we have so much to enjoy in this part of the country; a wonderful coastline, the Norfolk Broads on our doorsteps and lots of things to do with the children
 As I look around and contemplate the summer holidays myself, I am reminded of Paul the Apostle's reminder to a young man, Timothy, that “God… richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment”. Maybe, if we think about God at all, we think he is either utterly disengaged with our world or that his main interest is in rules; don’t touch this, don’t do that; make sure you behave in the right way. We might doubt that God has any interest in us having fun
But this challenges that view. God gives us the good things we see in our world for our enjoyment. He wants us to enjoy his good gifts. God wants us to have fun. What a wonderful reminder as the summer gets under way. There is so much good around us - let’s make sure we enjoy it this summer
 Perhaps one of our challenges is that, because we live here, we end up taking for granted the wonderful things we have around us. And that was also the danger for Timothy’s generation. So Paul also warned them “not to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God”
It seems they were so busy enjoying the gifts that they’d forgotten about the giver, the provider, the host of the world’s great party. Maybe there’s something in those words for our generation too?
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