THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK - From Rachel – 6th February 2026

Transform

I was walking on Acaster Airfield with Philip and our cocker spaniel Rufus one dreary day in late January. We had splished and sploshed through mud and worse, and were walking along a flooded runway between two fields. The sky was grey and the distant woods blurry in the mist. Our toes, fingers and noses were icy and all seemed dead and sodden. Suddenly I noticed a red admiral butterfly, fluttering drunkenly amidst a struggling, waterlogged crop of field beans. Where on earth had it come from? How was it even alive in this season of watery wastes, fog, mud and bare branches?

Somehow, a caterpillar had managed to find food and survive the January frosts. It had pupated safely and transformed into the beautiful, bright insect that danced about in the desolation, the only spot of colour in a bleak landscape.

And I began thinking about Vicar Geoff’s Word of the Year for 2026. Transform. In Romans 12 Paul tells us that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. By spending more time with God, in private devotions and corporate worship, and spending time with fellow believers, we begin to align our values with God’s, listen to the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit, slowly, slowly becoming more like Jesus. It’s a work of a lifetime.

But Transform has a particular meaning this year, wider than just personal, as we seek to merge the ABC and AAA churches into a wider Mission and Ministry unit under Rev’d Geoff. We are a diverse group of churches who each have a particular way of doing things. Roots go deep and change can be unwelcome. Yet in order to grow and flourish we sometimes have to try new things, make new connections and appreciate each other as pilgrim disciples, slowly being transformed to be more like Jesus. This doesn’t mean losing our identity, but deepening our understanding of what it looks like to be part of a bigger family of churches.

To become a butterfly, my little Red Admiral first had to move on from being a caterpillar. Living in a folded leaf tent on a stinging nettle, secured with silk she spins herself, she becomes a chrysalis, staying in this unformed state for up to 50 days in cold weather. She has to die to herself, as we Christians are urged to do, to become what she was always meant to be.

We can never say we’ve arrived as followers of Jesus; we are always on a journey of discovery, faith, adventure, hope and longing. Let’s join hands and hearts across our villages as we work to serve our communities and bring the Gospel of Christ to our friends and neighbours.

Lord, may your Kingdom come.

Rachel