From the Vicar

Happy New Year!

I’m writing this in the middle of one of the busiest times of the year, with Carol and Christingle and School Services in full swing, as well as a baptism, two funerals, sadly, and the last wedding of the year! December is always a very busy month of course, but last December just seemed busier than normal and, in addition, the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and calls for the resignation of the Archbishop of York have cast quite a shadow over the work and ministry of all of us in the Church of England.

The theme of the Comberbach Methodist Advent Study Group, which some of us attend each year, was “hushing the noise” (from the well known and beautiful Christmas Carol “It came upon the midnight clear”) and it has been hard to “hush the noise” of everything that has been happening in our Church, society and world in the last few months and to concentrate upon the message of the angels, and to hear them sing. But, in the midst of all these “Babel sounds” I have thought, prayed about and reflected on our discipleship, work and witness as followers of Jesus, the “babe in the manger” and Messiah among us, to bring tidings of “comfort and joy”, peace and hope to all those whom we encounter. Given the vagaries and circumstances of life, this is not always an easy thing to do, but our (and I stress “our ”) work in this Parish with people in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and in all sorts of situations, has been I think a very good example of our Christian faith in action and really what the Church is expected to be and should be about – encouraging and nurturing faith and hope and love, bringing comfort to people and always looking forward whilst acknowledging that there are, inevitably, things that hold us back and things for which we have to express our sorrow.

This month, and in a new year, which sees the 1700th anniversary of the formulation of The Nicene Creed, which we will be remembering during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and which links all Christians throughout the world and across all denominations, we celebrate one of the most significant festivals in the Church, the Epiphany, as well as celebrating the work of members of our rural communities on Plough Sunday. This is what the Church is about – giving thanks to God for the revelation of the Messiah among us and, at this time, and amongst many other things of course, for the ongoing “busyness/business” of our farming communities, as they “plough the fields and scatter......” – and we are all part of this ongoing story and journey, and what a joy, and a privilege, that is.

“Oh, hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing” and, as we all try to do this, may God bless each one of us in this coming year, whatever it may bring!

The Revd Alec Brown.