Our Minister

December 2023 Circuit Link Letter form Deborah

Advent Waiting

I have read that by the time we are seventy years old, we will have spent three years of our lives just waiting. Waiting in the queue to pay for the shopping, waiting in the doctor's surgery, waiting for lunch to be ready, waiting for transport. Waiting for news of that job, or for your teenager to get in from their party, or for the results of those health checks.

In the days before I was a minister, one of my jobs was an administrator in a primary school and as Christmas approached, the children would get more and more excited – filled with anticipation as the last days of term ticked by. And they would come and look at the Nativity laid out in reception, and ask with open-eyed wonder on their faces. ‘When will Christmas come?’

Here we are again in the season of Advent waiting. Supposing Christmas Day was tomorrow – would you be ready? Something adults say very wisely which most children think is nonsense is: 'It is better to travel than to arrive'. Meaning that often the looking forward to something is almost better than the ‘something’ itself.

Whether you think that is true for you or not, it’s as if we need these next 4 weeks to work our way through the days like a journey, opening the doors of the Advent calendar, lighting our Advent candles, doing our various preparations, reflecting on the lectionary readings, and each day remembering a little bit more about what Christmas means. As we get our homes ready, we get our hearts ready too.

T S Eliot wrote: ‘’the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”. Advent is an encouragement to take the time to really journey through the days, so that when we hear those wonderful words of John's Prologue on Christmas morning, even though we have heard them many times before, we will hear them with fresh wonder and joy, as if it is the first time:

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being... And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth'.

What about making a little Advent feature for your home - an angel holding the promise - a rough path - a white candle? Every day during Advent, remove a stone as you pray. On Christmas Day remember the promise fulfilled in Jesus, light the white candle - and the path will be clear!

Faithful God, As this season of Advent begins, Help me to be patient in waiting, trusting that Your Grace is sufficient for me. Help me to be courageous in waiting, Trusting that Your strength will carry me through. Help me to be loving in waiting, Trusting that the love brought down to us at Christmas in Jesus Christ Is the love that will bring eternal peace into every heart. Amen

Peace for the journey,

Deborah

Letter from Rev Anne Deche: A year of God’s great promises!

Our journey here began in September 2022 after midnight and has seen us - through wonderful God’s people who have made our stay - advance into what we can term as God’s great promises. This is because we all - like Christ serving one another with love and compassion - make God the centre of this ministry.

The amount of exposure we have received through the year has been of great joy and sometimes a little challenging, when we seem to struggle to get around a few places and maybe understand the different culture we come from and the one we have encountered, but which we have appreciated.

The many different churches in this circuit have always welcomed us to different activities and through our Superintendent Minister, Rev Deborah, we have been to all our churches and shared different gifts and also to the different pulpits as the doors are open to all to be in all our churches when you have the opportunity.

Talk of joint united services in different Churches and villages, Away days, Quiz nights, Mid-week services, Morning prayers, Meet and Sing, Tea and Chat, Warm Spaces, The Local Pantry, Kenyan night, Memorial services, Faith in Action, Citizens UK, Pancake evening, The Mix, Day tours, Cake and Conversation, Christmas festivals, Carol services and Craft nights, Messy church, Lent lessons, Easter Cracked, Gardening, The Guild, Toddlers group and on and on the list is rather long and very educative and also exciting at all times!

The central enthusiasm to all this is StF 610: “Best of all is God is with us, God will hold and never fail, keep that truth when storms are raging, God remains though faith is frail.”

Thank you for all your love and support and may we continue to serve as God’s faithful servants because His Promises are Great!

Annie