Dear friends,
New Year's Day falls on a Sunday in 2012. This gives us a fairly rare opportunity to celebrate the occasion in a church service; details of all Church Services in the Benefice are to be found above under Services. The 1st January is also celebrated in the Church's Calendar as the feast of the Naming of Jesus - a name which means "God saves".
As we begin a New Year, we may be thinking of new beginnings - hoping that our heartfelt resolutions will last well into the New Year! We might also be thinking about the purpose of our lives. That might sound deep - but we all need to have purpose in our lives. In the midst of all our uncertainties, hopes and fears over what this new year may bring, it is reassuring to know that our lives, and our world, are part of God's much bigger purposes - "this" is not all there is!
We are reminded, on the 1st January, that God's purposes are seen supremely in Jesus - in the weakness and vulnerability of a baby, but yet a baby who saves the world from sin and death! A baby who grew to be a man. Through this man God saves us from our weakness and selfishness, our pride, the damage we inflict on ourselves and others. In this man there is the promise of a real new beginning, for us and for our world.
Please join us at church to celebrate and give thanks for the meaning and purpose in our lives; for the love and acceptance that surrounds us, and to God who loves and cares for us, just as we are, more than any human being could. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain!
May God bless you and grant to you, and to all whom you love, a truly happy and blessed New Year.
With every blessing.
Stephen
Rev'd Stephen Abbott
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