<div>Dear Friends</div>

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">As I write this, we are drawing to the end of one of the strangest and most unexpected years (not that you need me to tell you that!) I have been thinking that this time last year Coronavirus and Wuhan were distant news articles. I do not think that any of us thought that it would come close to our shores, let alone become a worldwide Pandemic that would put us into lockdown for several months closing down much of our country. As we head towards the end of the year, it is often a time when we look back on the year that has been, and we look forward to a New Year with new chances and opportunities.</span>

<div>You may well be wondering what the next year has in store for us? We may be walking into the next year with quite a lot of trepidation knowing that it will not be easy. As you look back on 2020, what stands out – toilet paper? Home-schooling? Loss of job or relationship? Loss of loved one? Maybe there are equally some good things that you can look back on – More time with family? A slower pace of life, realising what is important to you? </div>

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I obviously cannot tell you what next year will bring, but I know a God who has been with me all my life and yes, even in this year. As I walk into 2021 I do so believing and trusting in a God who does know the way.</span>

<div>"The Gate of the Year" is the popular name given to a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins. The title that she gave it was "God Knows". </div><div>The poem, written in 1908 and privately published in 1912, caught the public attention when King George VI quoted it in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the British Empire. The poem may have been brought to his attention by his wife, Queen Elizabeth. (Thank you to Wikipedia)</div>

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:</span>

<div>“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”</div><div>And he replied:</div><div>“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.</div><div>That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”</div><div>So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.</div><div>And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.</div>

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">With every blessing in this New Year Rev Sarah 01733 248690/07498 230858</span>

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