Most people will be familiar with the classic story of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.

A young, socially-naïve adolescent, Dorian Gray, commissions a society portrait to capture his youth and promise.

Inspired by the picture and a desire to keep his youthful beauty and innocence, Dorian cries out his wish that the portrait would age rather than him.

The wish is granted and for every act of debauchery the picture disfigures while Dorian remains untouched – the picture is, however, hidden from public view and particularly Dorian’s.

The Christian faith in this country is increasingly unpopular.

Christianity is seen by many as irrelevant to their lives, as an inconvenience at best and a thorough nuisance otherwise.

The rebuttal to the Christian message is that science has refuted all of its truths, but more importantly, how dare the Church moralise to the masses.

The Christian faith is viewed as culturally-backward and it has no right to question the way lives are led.

The modern mantra is the Frank Sinatra song My Way. Yet, as we follow our way, we find that our actions leave their mark.

The portrait of our life and our decisions does not lie.

We can hide the picture in the attic and pretend it is not there, but one day we will have to confront the ugly truth of it.

The Christian God, captured in the portrait of Jesus, does not seek to uncover the picture of our lives for public view. The Christian God does not desire punishment for the disfigurement of the picture he has painted.

No, the Christian God’s deepest desire is to restore the portrait to its former glory – but to do so we must take the portrait, our lives, to him the Great Restorer.

The Rev Brian Streeter St. Mary’s, Windermere & Jesus Church, Troutbeck