"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way" urges Minnie Haskins' much loved ‘Gate of the Year’ poem...

Holding hands gives comfort, security and guidance to children and adults alike, especially when facing something new and scary. Holding hands is a picture of the comfort, security and guidance God offers when we turn to him, when we pray.

The Christian faith tells us we don’t have to struggle on our own. Society encourages us to be independent and self-sufficient but we are made for relationships, for mutual care - dependent on God and one another. Church is a place to accompany each other on life’s journey, pray for, listen, try to understand and help each other, ‘be like Christ’ to one another, the meaning of Christian. Church is where we ask forgiveness for hurting others by what we say, do and fail to do… from which we’re sent out into the world ‘to love and serve’ in Christ’s name.

‘So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East’…

with love and prayers

Jenny