And if you would prefer to read it…
A little late, but Happy New Year!
I am a fan of New Year’s resolutions. They have a way of making you feel anything is possible. Resolution sounds so wonderful, so grand, so purposeful, so, resolved. They are also future focussed. They shift our focus away from what was, on the whole, a pretty awful 2020.
Making resolutions feels wonderful, but can set up unrealistic expectations. So, how about a New Year’s tweak?
At this time, especially at this time, we all need to be gentle with ourselves and with one another. So think of a tweak that will give you life, that will help your roots go a little deeper into God.
That might be that you want to pray more, and there are others you can join with listed in the spaces and places page on our website. As you pray, you can partner with others faithfully praying through the prayer requests page on our website. Please remember to pray there for our church wardens and others that lead in our churches, particularly through this difficult time.
And this week please do pray for Simon, Ruth and the family as Covid has entered their home.
Perhaps your New Years tweak could be to subscribe to our Youtube channel and Facebook page, to like and share content with friends, family and neighbours who you may not have got into church, but now church can come to them!
You may decide your tweak is to go deeper in your relationship with God through study. You can still join the Loved and Liked course – there is information on the news page of our website.
This is a good time to tweak your giving, which allows us to continue to bring the Good News to the people of this area. There will be more information about how this is spent on people, mission and buildings over the coming weeks.
This week, if you wonder about how we are continuing to minister to our schools during this time, you can have a look at the Schools page of our website, and share it with friends and family.
Because of your wonderful generosity in our match funding campaign we have been able to employ Sue Shaw for additional administrative support for our PCCs and clergy team. Sue is an expert in Church Suite and comes to us with loads of experience in IT and website management. She will be taking on some of the tasks that have been on Fiona’s plate releasing Fiona to invest further in building teams and strengthening those relationships and processes that we have already witnessed lifting the burden from individual PCCs, allowing both our lay and ordained ministers to do more of what they have been called to do.
This New Year, remember first and foremost that you are a child of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ who; “had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect…” and who understands our struggles and hopes, our challenges and desires, and walks alongside us through it all, “because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”
God bless you and keep you in your New Year’s tweaks, that you may know life in all its abundance in 2021.
Kate
