From the Vicar
Dear Friends
May I start by wishing you all a very Happy and Blessed New Year for yourself and those you love. As we greet one another after the strokes of midnight on the 31st and continue to do so for a couple of weeks with those we are in contact with, we do so with hopeful hearts and expectations, that we and others will enjoy and share a healthy, peaceful, fulfilling and good year ahead without dramas or crises along the way.
I personally look forward to the period of days following Christmas and Boxing Day before the New Year to hopefully find moments of quiet and reflection on what has gone before, to take stock, recharge and be ready to face whatever comes as January unfolds. A good friend and colleague of mine who is no longer with us used to lament the passing of the time when humans would have spent part of the winter hibernating, resting, refreshing themselves and finding time for physical, spiritual and emotional reconnecting away from the demands and busyness of life.
The reality of today is that there are few moments for this sadly and even when we find space for ourselves, we feel guilty that we are not doing something else. The downside of not building up strength, resilience, working out priorities and making changes to our lifestyle can be tiredness, low mood, lack of motivation, and feeling generally out of sorts.
The Christian Feast of The Epiphany (when the travellers from distant lands arrived in Bethlehem to offer their gifts and worship to the Christchild) is deliberately placed away from the main Christmas worship to partly reminds us that the celebration of Christmas continues in the Christan Church until Candlemas on 2nd February, and partly to reflect on the patience and time needed by those travelling a large distance to prepare themselves for the out of this world experience they would find at the end of their journey that had, and continues to have implications for individuals and the world we inhabit and contribute towards.
You may have made a resolution or two for 2025 and alongside perhaps going to a gym, or keeping on touch more with friends, or cutting back on things that have an impact upon our health and well-being, we might resolve to create some time and space to think, reflect, read, pray and spend with those we love. As well as personal resolutions, what could you do to shine God’s light that came to us at Christmas into the life of others that speaks of hope, peace, love and joy, where joy is deeper than happiness or celebration, but a force that knocks down all the walls around our hearts and levels us with the goodness, the grace, the unearned and unending love and healing that is ours to know through the newly arrived Jesus.
Joy remakes us and gives birth to a self that is trusting, patient, believing, knowing that all will be well and all manner of things will be well. Joy is a quiet and lasting foundation that endures while the currents of happiness and grief wash back and forth over the surface of our hearts. May the joy we share during 2025 be the breath behind the healing words Jesus speaks to us in the depths of despair and becomes our breath as we reach out in compassion to those who are hurting and despairing within this world.
With love and prayers
Tony
Canon Tony’s last Service as Vicar before retirement will be on Sunday 27th April 2025.
