MARCH 2026 NEWSLETTERDavid Writes...Dear friends,I seem to be surrounded by resolutions. My colleagues in China are just returning to work after their Lunar New Year celebrations; they cleared their desks and in-trays before the holiday and now return to a blank slate to make what they can of the coming year.My colleagues in the Emirates are occupied with hungry, thirsty days and family parties in the evening as, for them, it is Ramadan. The devout amongst them are thinking of others less fortunate than themselves. For us, we are deep in Lent. Are you one of those people who gives something up for Lent? It is rather less fashionable now than in earlier times, but it is still a time to reassess priorities. Many, many, years ago, I preached my first “public” sermon. It was to the inmates of Walton Prison (where I was on a six month “pastoral placement”). I was walking in to help lead the service and the Priest tapped me on the shoulder and told me I was to preach. The reading, as this year, was “temptation in the wilderness” and I felt most uncomfortable… Which leads me to my Lenten observance. I try to give up worrying. Or, if you want a more positive slant, I try to remember that I am a child of God and an inheritor of the heavenly kingdom. So, as we take this time to look back at the past and forward to the future, let us hold on to that. God loves and understands each of us – so we wait together for Holy Week and Easter Day. Every blessing,David
Isaiah 66:13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.As we continue our Lent pilgrimage, we bring before God the world around us, full of contrasts. We pray for the poor and disadvantaged, that we may find a way to help them. We pray for those in power, the rich and famous, that they will turn from avarice and pride and recognise their responsibilities towards others, and learn to serve and share, to have compassion and love.We pray for all conflict, that it may cease, without reservation. Conflict, not only in the form of war and hostility between nations, but also conflict in our homes and workplaces, churches and friendship groups. May there be only love.Mothering Sunday brings to mind the deep love that God has for us, just as a mother has for her child. We pray for all who have no one to call ‘mother’, and those whose mothers are no longer around. We give thanks for all who have mothered each one of us, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, as well as parents, and we ask for God’s blessing on them all.Palm Sunday, at the end of the month, gives us pause to remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, not with pomp and circumstance, but with humility and service. We pray that we may emulate that humility, service, compassion and love that He taught us to desire.Zechariah 9:9 See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey
