“Flowers may fade, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Bishop Philip looked to Isaiah yesterday (Sunday, February 17), when he was delighted to accept an invitation to preach at the 2019 Mawgan Daffodil Festival, in St Mawgan in Meneage Church.

“All people are like grass; their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass,” wrote Isaiah.

Sobering

Bishop Philip said: “Well it’s a sobering thought isn’t it? We’re as frail and transient as the flowers and the grass. It’s not perhaps what you were hoping to hear tonight. But it’s an important lesson the flowers teach us. Just as the flowers fade, so will we. Just as they fade, so will we.

“But, happily we don’t have to stop there. What else does Isaiah say? ‘The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.’

Not a fixed statue

“God’s word, and God’s will do not change and fade as we do. They stand for ever. What does that mean? It means that our God is unfailingly faithful and reliable. He doesn’t go changing his mind, as we often do. But that doesn’t mean either that he’s some kind of statue, fixed in one position for ever. It means something so much better than that. It means instead that he remains unchangeably, unshakeably committed to us. He is always there for us. We can always turn to him. It is in fact what he longs for us to do.”

Speaking after the service, Bishop Philip said: “I am grateful to have been invited along. The early daffodils reminding us in the depths of winter that spring is just around the corner is just of one of the many things I love about my new home in Cornwall.

“I’m reliably informed that there were more than 7,000 blooms in the church for the festival – I have to say I didn’t try to count them myself. But they were stunning to look at, and stunning to smell. They were a powerful reminder of the beauty in nature that surrounds us, and also of the flower industry in Cornwall.”