APRIL 2026 NEWSLETTERDavid Writes...Dear friends,Some of you may know that my academic research is concerned with the way in which communities form and define themselves. It is not just academic. Sometimes, very rarely, it happens by chance. Mostly though, we join a community because we are invited. We stay because we like the people, or the ideas they stand for. But we still feel a little on the outside, until we start to get involved. That happens in different ways at different times of our lives, and changes when circumstances change. For me, for example, over the past few years I have been moving towards retirement. Working out just what it means to be a “retired” vicar has been difficult. With my 70th birthday approaching, this Lent and Easter have been important. Lent, because I was “grounded”, quite literally by the disastrous situation in the Middle East. I was safe in Formby, but I have friends who are still far from safe in Tehran, Lebanon and the various Gulf States. It gave me time to think, pray, and try to decide how best to use my time in whatever future is left to me. Now, of course, we face Easter, with its promise of new beginnings, and real hope. Secure in the knowledge that we are children of God and inheritors of the heavenly kingdom. So, what’s to do this Easter? Firstly, share the Good News with the people we know and love (think of Mary at the open tomb). Secondly, gather with friends so we can support each other when the world looks askance at us (think of the upper room). Thirdly, be prepared to welcome our living Saviour into our lives. Because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and Life itself. Every blessing,David
Luke 24:5 Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!The deeply moving and painful recollections of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, reinforce the knowledge of just how much Jesus did for us, how far He was willing to go for us. And we can only give Him thanks and praise, honour and glory. The joyful and glorious Resurrection on Easter Sunday, allows us to simply rejoice and sing praises to God for His mercy and love. Alleluia, Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia!This month, we remember our patron saint, George, and pray that his name and his flag will stop being a symbol of nationalism and hatred towards strangers. We pray that our nation will become a by-word for the love that Jesus commanded us to show, where clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, and welcoming the alien, in the name of Jesus, will become second nature. We pray for the nations of the world, where there is only warfare and hatred, only division and oppression. We pray for Christ’s peace, that passes all understanding.We also commemorate the evangelist Mark, this month. We give thanks that he was inspired to record the deeds and words of our Saviour, so that we, of our generation, would be able to come closer to God.During this time, between Easter and Pentecost, we think about Thy Kingdom Come. We pray for God’s will to be done, in our time and place, and that His Kingdom may come nearer, through the spread of the Gospel throughout the world.Matt 28:9 Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’
