Christianity takes it for granted that whether you succeed or fail, you’re valuable. God’s view of you doesn’t depend on how you do, it’s always the same love, always giving you a second chance. And once you let that sink in, you can face failure without fear and rage. You’ll still try your best, but you’re also free to see that if you can’t do or get just what you wanted, you still have your dignity before God and so you still have a future.
This is the sort of thing that the Church gives space for ”“ a realistic picture of who you are, based on a vision of who God is. You may not know exactly what if anything you believe about God. But the presence of this building and this community of people simply reminds you ”“ it could be different, you could find a new perspective on who you are and a new connectedness with other people and the world.
‘Haunted by religion’. Yes, in the sense that no-one seems to want these possibilities to be outlawed or forgotten. They need that space as much as the students need Rochester Cathedral or a little village in Norfolk or Lancashire needs the local church for its postal services.
Haunting, of course, isn’t the best word for this; it’s about ghosts from the past. But one thing that the Bible says about Jesus when he has been raised from death is that he tells his friends that he isn’t a ghost. He is simply fully alive again. It could be that this Easter you realise that what felt at first like no more than a ghostly ”“ if friendly ”“ presence turns out to be alive here and now. And that’s when Christian memories and sympathies turn into faith.