John’s Letter

Dear Friends,

A happy New Year to all readers!

 These are very uncertain times!  Seven more years of austerity are predicted, with more job cuts, more pain, more borrowing.  It’s our nation’s most gloomy outlook since the end of the Second World War, and Britain could plunge into a double-dip recession if the turmoil in the Euro Zone continues.  We do have the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics to look forward to, but they seem like icing on a much reduced cake!

Amidst all the doom and gloom, can I encourage you to count the blessings you do have and to cultivate a spirit of generosity in supporting those less fortunate and God’s work through your parish church.  God loves cheerful givers!  And I firmly believe that it is in giving that we are blessed, in giving that we receive.

This month includes the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18th to 25th). Our brothers and sisters in the Methodist Church have a wonderful act of worship at the start of the year called ‘The Covenant Service’ in which they renew their relationship with God and offer themselves anew to Him.  I am glad that its now included in our Church of England resources.

These words of commitment seem especially fitting at the start of 2012:

‘I am no longer my own but yours. Your will, not mine, be done in all things, wherever you may place me, in all that I do and all in that I may endure; when there is work for me and when there is none; when I am troubled and when I am at peace.  Your will be done when I am valued and when I am disregarded; when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking; when I have all things and when I have nothing.  I willingly offer all that I have and am to serve you, as and where you choose.’

If we dare to pray that challenging prayer, who knows where God may lead us!

From Holy Trinity Church God sends us out to bring Good News:

To a troubled world -  peace from Christ.

To a searching world – love from Christ.

To a waiting world -  hope from Christ.

John

January 2012.