Back in 1999, Sir Elton John released a track with Lean Rimes, called ‘Written in the Stars’. The song spells out the deep poignancy of what it is to be human.
It is a song about love and death. It speaks about finding true love. But then, having found this wonderful, precious affection, we realise that soon it will all be over. Life is temporary. Death will inevitably come and the person or people you most treasured will be snatched away. Life seems so cruel and spiteful. It can leave you wishing you had never loved in the first place.
Only for a day
Elton John’s song asks: ‘Is it written in the stars? / Are we paying for some crime? / Is this all that we are good for / just a stretch of mortal time? / Is this God’s experiment / in which we have no say / in which we’re given paradise, but only for a day?’
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …