Dear friendsOver the past month the news has left me reeling. In the face of such human tragedy and suffering I have scoured the news for stories of hope. There are things that I hope for, then I read the news and that hope can disappear in a heartbeat. If you have too much hope, then people sometimes think you are delusional but with too little hope then you can feel you are drowning in despair.I have been reading the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a prophet and a priest chosen by God. The Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar had removed the Judeans from their land. They had been taken into captivity and he had marched them hundreds of miles into exile. They were probably unprepared for the long journey. They were separated from loved ones, they had witnessed people dying. They had been removed from the Temple and so in their eyes had been removed from God`s presence. Then the Temple was destroyed. To them God was gone. They did not know when this would end. They were in despair and hope had died. Ezekiel was traumatised like the people around him and then he started to have strange visions and dreams. Ezekiel stood over a mass grave and God asked him “Can these bones live?” Of course not he probably thought.God told Ezekiel to prophesy that God would resurrect the dead, restore a community, establish a Kingdom, build the temple and would put the bones back together – there was reason to hope. Ezekiel felt the bones rattling, then bodies reforming, being filled with the breath of God – the Valley of the Dry bones burst with life once againGod is not done yet. The restoration of Israel needed the participation of the people. The people of God would work alongside God to restore the land. In the final verse of Ezekiel, when Jerusalem had been rebuilt it says, “And the name of the City from that time on with be “The Lord is there”, not was there or will be there but is there. God is there when we can`t see it, feel it or believe it. God is always there.On Good Friday, the disciples thought that all hope was lost. Jesus had been crucified, but there was hope even in the darkest of hours. When we look at our world, when we can see no hope, then we need to pray that God will give us new hearts to love what he loves, and eyes to have eyes to see as he sees. We need to pray that each of us will work towards bringing God`s kingdom of peace, gentleness, justice and love.We are Easter PeopleOn behalf of the Ministry Team I would like to pray that you draw close to Jesus as we proceed through Holy Week and that your Easter will be blessed.With love Christina
Dear friends, You would think after Christmas, the Church Calendar would be quiet for a while. It doesn`t seem to happen that way, there is the naming and circumcision of Jesus, Epiphany, Plough Sunday, the Baptism of Christ, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Conversion of St Paul, Holocaust Memorial Day and then on 2nd February, Candlemas. Candlemas is one of my favourite festivals in the Church Year. Firstly I love candles and they are really important in church. We light candles to show that we are gathering to worship, at baptism we pass a candle to the family to show the passage from darkness to light, lit from the Pascal (Easter) candle. Candlemas is when we remember Mary and Joseph going to the Temple in Jerusalem, 40 days after Jesus` birth, to make offerings to God and present Jesus at the Temple. It is the last great festival of Christmas before we start to look towards Lent. “When Christmas greets Easter on Candlemas day” We celebrate the light of Christ in the world as we start to look ahead at the darkness of Lent and Good Friday. The candles remind us that darkness does not triumph. The light of Christ cannot be put out. At Candlemas there would be blessing of candles with processions. A candle would be placed in someone`s hands with the words, “Lord now lettest though thy servant depart in peace.” I also love Candlemas as we celebrate Anna and Simeon, two old people who had been waiting to meet the Messiah. At the heart of the story, Old Simeon and Anna meet baby Jesus -An old weary world meets a new fresh light and they give testimony to who Jesus really is. Read the passage in Luke 2 verses 22-38 Simeon saw the baby and realised that the light had broken in – the curtains were being drawn back on a new way of being human and he says those words that we say in the Nunc Dimittis, “ Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace <span style="font-size: 1rem;">according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen the salvation, to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.” He also predicted great pain.</span> As Simeon withdrew from the scene, presumably to die a fulfilled man, Anna steps forward and speaks to anyone, telling them that God was on the move. These two individuals highlight the love that God has for older people, in a world that doesn`t always show it, but older people matter and have an incredible impact on our lives. Age is no barrier to Christian Service – God sets no retirement age. My life and our Church life is incredibly enriched by the older people and this should be celebrated. Ireneas, the early Church Father, said that the Glory of God is a life fully lived, when I look at older people, I see the Glory of God, through their love, energy and commitment to Him. On 6<sup>th</sup> February this year, we will celebrate the Accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne 70 years ago and to leave with words of Her Majesty, “I know just how much I rely on my faith to guide me through the good times and the bad. Each day is a new beginning. I know that the only way to live my life is to try and do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings and to put my trust in God...I draw strength from the message of hope in the Christian Gospel” With prayers and blessings Christina
Happy New Year to everyone, and everything of the best for 2022! Writing this letter in the middle of December, 2021 I have absolutely no idea what we might all be facing and having to deal with in January, 2022! Whatever it is we’ve probably all “been there and done that” before in some way, notwithstanding what letter of the Greek alphabet is in front of it! Last month I led my first Assemblies in Great Budworth and Antrobus Schools since the first lockdown in March, 2020 – and it was wonderful to be back in the Schools and to be meeting old and new pupils, as well as to be interacting with staff once again in a more than perfunctory way. The Schools theme for the autumn term was “trust” and this seemed so very appropriate both for the seasons of Advent and Christmas and for what we are all still going through in terms of the Pandemic. Trust is very much a part of what it’s all about – from the characters who inhabit the Advent and Christmas stories (Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and wise men, Elizabeth and Zechariah) to the people we all rely on in these still uncertain and potentially life threatening times (scientists and epidemiologists, NHS and Social Care sector workers, friends, family and neighbours....). At some point during Advent I was asked to spell out, in no more than a few sentences, what was at “the heart of Christmas” for me – what did my understanding of Christmas really come down to? Without hesitation (slightly unusually for me!) I turned to trust in God, and in His promises made millennia ago and to the people of Israel and handed down to us through the words of the Prophets in the pages of Scripture, in both the Old and the New Testaments. It really is, I believe, as simple and yet as incredibly profound, as that – belief and trust. We have all learnt a great deal about trust in our fellow human beings over the course of the last two years and have, I’m sure, emerged stronger and more resilient in the wake of the on-going Pandemic, both as individuals and as members of our different communities, including our faith community of course. We have all endured, in differing degrees of course, pain and loss and suffering but we have, as individuals and communities, risen to the many and varied challenges of the Pandemic and its associated side effects, and no doubt we all have our own stories of this to tell. <span style="font-size: 1rem;">I finished last year’s January letter with these words: “May God bless each one of us in this coming month and in this New Year, whatever it brings!” and I could just as easily finish this letter in the same way. As I write now the Omicron variant seems to have claimed its first victim in this country, and we are certainly not out of the pandemic woods yet – but God’s grace and love are always with us and in the Christ Child, whose birth we celebrated once again last month at Christmas, is our alpha and omega, our beginning and our end, and nothing, not even the omicron variant, can take that from us.</span> And so may God bless each one of us in this coming month and in this New Year, whatever it brings! The Revd Alec Brown.
Dear friends I don`t know how you refer to God, In Isaiah we read “ And his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” At Christmas we read this passage but we see God in a very different light. God came to us as a fragile, vulnerable baby. He became vulnerable, risking everything by becoming human like us. God came to us as a fragile child so that he could share in all our weaknesses and struggles. Jesus grew up and lived in a country subject to occupation, turmoil and uncertainty. He was part of a family, worked as a carpenter, knew what it was like to suffer loss. He experienced unfairness and injustice. He was a refugee and was treated with suspicion and contempt. God did not judge and condemn us from afar but became one of us – Emmanuel. God is right here alongside us in all the messiness of life. Nadia Bolz Weber wrote “God did not enter the world of our nostalgic, silent night, snow blanketed, peace on earth, suspended reality of Christmas. God slipped into the vulnerability of skin and entered our violent and disturbing world” There are glad tidings of great joy - even in our violent and disturbing world. Join us in our Advent services as we prepare for Jesus` birth and then come and listen again to the Christmas story, get alongside Zechariah and Elizabeth as they learn they will have a baby, travel to Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph, sit on the hillside with the shepherds as they are stunned by the angels, join the Wise men, immerse yourselves in the story, take time to reflect , don`t be like the Inn keeper who had no time for stars and be prepared to greet the Christ child. Then ask yourself what this will mean to you, The Theme for the Church of England this Year is “At the heart of Christmas.” What is at the heart of your Christmas? A light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it, As Christians we are called to be lights in the world however dark that world may be. Each of us can make a difference in so many ways bringing light and hope.. On behalf of Alec and the Ministry Team I wish you all a Happy and Holy Christmas. Love Christina
