The good father

'Here's a riddle for you' I said to today's Fathers' Day congregation at St James, 'how is a good father like a toilet roll?'

I loved the ingenuity of the answers.

My answer? A good father is like a toilet roll because he perfectly combines softness and strength.

That's not an easy combination, nor is it easy to be a dad, but there is one person in history who, I suggested, had perfectly combined the qualities of softness and strength and that was Jesus.

He was kind, compassionate, the friend of sinners, gentle and lowly of heart. But beside this perfect softness was the strength and authority that meant that when he said to men,  'come, follow me,' they did.

No dad can aspire to be Jesus, but a dad who knows Jesus and believes in him, may hope to reflect, even if dimly, the softness and strength of the Son of God in his life - and that's worth aiming at and praying for.