Dear friends,
At the turning of the year we raise our thoughts to new beginnings, a new diary and a new page, unsullied and pristine, nothing missed or passed by. The tattered pages of last year's diary though, before being stored away, can offer guidance to the coming year and help us set our course.
The calendar of our Church's year too encourages us to review as we hear afresh the story of God's love through the pages of scripture and the lives of the Saints.
Our television screens also seem awash with reviews of the year applauding the achievements of the great and the good. And among the festivals of the Saints which saw out our year we have the lesson at the close of St John's Gospel that should all the things Jesus did be written down, the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. So we who follow Christ are encouraged to enliven His coming among us in the living pages of our lives.
The festival of St John is set between the commemoration of the martyrdom of St Stephen and that of the Holy Innocents, and we are reminded that whilst we review the lives of the great and good they too as we, are amidst a world of great trial and suffering. God set the course of His love in Jesus into this world, and asks that we who follow Jesus’ Gospel enliven Christ's love that our lives be among the good news of Jesus’ living. This may mean being prepared to turn the pages of our lives to new beginnings or offering again our friendship to those missed or passed by.
New Year's day marks the naming of Jesus, the name given Joseph by the angel bearing God's Word as Joseph dreams "You shall name him Jesus, for he will save his people."
May our dreams this New Year bear the name of our Christ that we become part of the unfolding story of God's saving love for all peoples.
Yours in Christ
Rev'd Brin Singleton
Rector
