We vicars have this hope that one day, someone will remember something from one of our sermons...

Perhaps some of you remember my talk the other week, when we all got a glass bead to represent the pearl of great price, from Jesus' parable. In the story a pearl merchant finds one of such huge and perilous beauty that he sells everything he has to get it.

We thought of the pearl as representing our longing for God - how can we find the One who so surpasses the worth of all other things that He is worth abandoning everything else to receive more of Him - yet nonetheless Who gives meaning and value to those lesser things which would otherwise prove empty shadows without Him?

But what if we turn the parable round? What if the pearl also represents our value to God? Suppose the searching merchant isn't us looking for God, but God looking for us? Christian spirituality trusts that God is the One who searches for us in our lostness, and gives His very best and finest, His own Son Jesus, to buy us for His own.

So we are God's pearls beyond all price, just as he is ours. I get my pearl out from time to time (yes I have done this talk before) and have a little feel of it, just to remind myself that I am precious to God. I especially do it when I'm nervous about a challenge, or things aren't going too well, and I may be feeling a bit down...

So now's a good time to get that pearl out, with some pain kicking in and the frustrations of being stuck in bed. Yes, God still cares, Jesus shows us just how much on the cross, come sciatica or whatever else may. I hope you've still got yours...