Rector’s Letter

<div>In the city of London between 1400 and 1560 it was forbidden to wear masks in the street at Christmastide. As people made their way home from parties, presumably a little worse for wear, it was too easy for masked villains to take advantage and rob them of their purses. So masks were outlawed throughout the 12 days of the festive season.<div>
</div><div>The American writer James Baldwin put it like this:</div><div>
</div><div>‘Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.’</div><div>
</div><div>God at Christmas unveils, embodies his love in human form so that humanity can be released from its pride and its fears, distilled in his presence into a soul’s awakening. In the incarnation, God takes off his mask of invisibility and in doing so invites us to do the same. Hope is now very much on the horizon with the availability of a vaccine to protect us all.</div><div>
</div><div>Over Advent and Christmas we began to open our churches for worship. Over January as we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany and Candlemas we plan to offer the following services:</div><div>
</div><div>Sunday 3rd January Holy Communion, Hatton, 10 am</div><div>
</div><div>Sunday 3rd January Matins, Honiley, 10 am.</div><div>
</div><div>Sunday 24th January St Marys Haseley, Holy Communion, 8.30 am.</div><div>
</div><div>Sunday 31st January, Holy Trinity Hatton, Holy Communion (Candlemas), 10 am.</div><div>
</div><div>A quotation I read this week which struck a chord concerning our celebration of the light of Christ in this season of Epiphany read:</div><div>
</div><div>‘In the midst of winter I finally learned there was an invisible summer’ <font size="1">Albert Camus</font>.</div><div>
</div><div><div>May this season </div><div>Lift you above the restraints and fears</div><div>Of the past months</div><div>And bring you to a New Year</div><div>Where hopes can be fulfilled</div><div>And we may freely meet again. </div></div><div><font size="1">( adapted from a prayer by Anton Dowell) </font></div><div><font size="1">
</font></div><div>Keith Mobberley</div></div>