In a sermon I heard recently, we were encouraged to invite people we know to ‘Come and See’ - to offer them a way in to a better understanding of God’s love for them.

Like many of you, I put food out for the birds. This year I have started to jot down a list of all the different kinds of birds that I happen to see from my window. It’s early days, but so far there are 12 on the list, including a skein of geese which flew overhead, and a pheasant. And even as I write, a flock of siskins has descended to feed on the seedheads in the garden next door, so make that 13!

I have seen a lot of things through my window. I have seen Concorde fly past. I saw a very lost sheep scrambling up the rockery. I’ve seen rats, hot air balloons and parachutists, the notorious Riddlesden peacock, and even, one Christmas morning thirty-odd years ago, Santa Claus trudging up Western Avenue through the snow!

All of this I would have missed if I had been looking inward.

Look outward. We might discover no end of opportunities to invite people to ‘Come and See’.

Pat Fenton, St Mary’s Church, Riddlesden