At our Bible Study gathering this week we started looking at the Acts of the Apostles and were asked why we thought that the disciples were willing to take the Good News of the gospel to places thousands of miles away (presumably on foot) and usually be willing to lose their lives for it. Would any of us be willing to do that today? We concluded that the encounters with Jesus after his resurrection from the dead were enough to convince them. This Sunday we celebrate the Conversion of St Paul, and what is striking is that he didn’t ever meet the risen Jesus in the flesh but was converted simply by a vision on the road to Damascus. But it was enough to change him from being a persecutor of those following Christ to his most famous advocate. Most of what we know about the forming of the early church comes from Paul.Today we tend to encounter Christ in less dramatic ways but there are still people who have visions of Christ and turn their lives in a different direction because of it. The risen Christ was active then and is still active today.Revd Liz
I am writing this on the Monday before Christmas. Last night (Sunday 21 December) we held our Carol Service at St Mary’s following the reopening of our west doors after the repair of the cross over the entrance. More than 100 people attended.Bishop Ian joined us and prayed for God’s blessing on our work at St Mary’s. It is now our task as a Parish to discern what God is calling us to at St Mary’s and to act on that calling. We are a people of God, called to bring the Gospel to others in Great Yarmouth. It is an awesome and precious responsibility. Buildings are a means to achieve this, but not an end in themselves. And we are very rich in our buildings. We have had three churches and the Minster Mission gifted to us as places where we may assemble, pray, worship, share the Gospel and support one another and the community. It is our task, as a people of God, to use them wisely and generously in service of the mission He has called us to.Rev Richard
The days up to Christmas sometimes feel like a bit of a machine of which we are only a very tiny part and that somehow makes Christmas feel a bit remote to us. Advent reminds us that the coming of Christ is a hope meant for the whole world.The prophets spoke of a Saviour who would bring justice, peace, and restoration for all people. John the Baptist’s cry in the wilderness was not directed at a select few, but at anyone willing to prepare their heart. Advent’s promised joy is for everyone: universal, generous, and overflowing.Yet this season also speaks personally. Advent invites us not only to watch for God’s work in the world but to recognise His coming into the specifics of our own lives. The joy we celebrate today is not abstract; it is the quiet assurance that God knows our struggles, meets us in our waiting, and shines His light into our particular darkness. The call to “prepare the way of the Lord” begins in the landscape of our own hearts.Fr Simon
Traditionally on the second Sunday of Advent our attention turns to the prophets. 600 years before Jesus was born Isaiah was prophesying to a people who had no hope. He was telling them that a light would shine in the darkness. That a child was coming who would be the prince of peace. Fast-forward 600 years and John the Baptist emerges in the wilderness to tell people that the kingdom of God is at hand. The one whom Isaiah foretold has come. And he is coming with great power to separate the wheat from the chaff. Prophets are seldom popular but we are called to be the prophets of our own times and we can start that by listening. Listening to God, to society, to the pain and the hope of the ignored and the marginalized and to be a voice for those who have no voice and to be an answer to the prayer of the forgotten and to share the good news of the one who comes as the Prince of Peace.Rev Liz
