Who do you think you are?

Just over two years ago my brother, Phil, left the UK to become National Director of Church Army New Zealand. They do say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I was delighted when he told us a while ago that he was returning to the UK for a couple of weeks.

One day last week, Sue and I travelled across to Manchester Airport to collect him. To cut a very long story short, we eventually met up with him some two hours or so later than expected. He had missed one of his connections and had arrived in Manchester via an alternative route. After being a little bit anxious at his non-appearance (and having been given inaccurate information as to his wherabouts by British Airways staff), it was a relief to see him. The bad news was that his luggage didn't arrive for another 3 days!

From Manchester we drove straight to Scarborough, where we spent an enjoyable 24 hours before heading home to Doncaster. Our route to Doncaster took us through Burton Agnes, which is the village where our parents were born and brought up. We had been told that some of our ancestors were buried in the village graveyard, so we decided to stop and have a look around. We found the gravestones of some of our aunts & uncles, and were also pleased to find the gravestone of our paternal grandparents, who died in the 1940s, long before we were born.

One of my favourite TV programmes is "Who Do You Think You Are?", in which famous people trace their family history. It is noticeable how often the celebrities find the whole experience very moving, and on quite a few occasions there are tears, either of joy or sadness. It seems that there is within every human being a need to understand our roots, and where we have come from.

The set Psalm for this Sunday was Psalm 139, which includes these wonderful words, as the psalmist speaks to God:

'You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb... You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born.'

I really appreciate knowing about my human ancestry,and understanding something of my family roots. But far greater is the knowledge that I was created by Almighty God, who knew me before I was born and walks each day with me.