Even though in many ways life is simpler in an extended lockdown, it can make some things more difficult to deal with and lead to tensions and pressures that are harder to get round and resolve. Whether it is trying to care for an elderly relative, getting to see a doctor or dentist, or maintaining friendships and relationships - the inability to talk face to face and connect in person, other than by electronic means, can lead to frustrations, misunderstanding and leave us feeling isolated. As I was struggling with some of these things last week my daughter shared this family WhatsApp message about my six year old granddaughter:Merry was on a whole school assembly on Google Classroom when the Headteacher’s feed dropped out. The Deputy Head asked if any of the children want to pray. <span style="font-size: 1rem;">Merry put her digital hand up straight away and prayed.</span>“Father God, thank you for our school. Thank you for all that we have and all that we get to do. Help us remember your love is so high we can’t get over it (long pause),and so low we can’t get under it (long pause),and so wide we can’t get round it!Jesus you have wonderful love. Amen.”It sometimes takes a childlike confidence and faith to remind us of what we already know. That whatever the situation, however unfamiliar we are with the circumstances and however isolated it makes us feel, we have a God whose love and resourcefulness is bigger than any of the unfamiliar lockdown challenges we face. As the psalmist says in Psalm 108 v 4: “For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds”. It just requires us to have the faith to sometimes stop striving to resolve the situation alone, to put our “digital hand up” and to pray - to the one who has wonderful love! Peter Coles, Diocesan Secretary
In the northern hemisphere the New Year dawns at the darkest time of the year. It is also a very dark time for all of us as we are living with the restrictions necessary in order to bring the spread of Covid-19 under control. We don’t know when or how this phase will end. Living with uncertainty is very difficult. We are in the middle of Epiphany, which is a season of uncertainty, beginning with the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January and concluding with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple – on 2 February. Three themes are woven together throughout Epiphany all of which are about God making Christ’s presence real in uncertain times. The first theme is the arrival of the visitors from the East, who took two years of travelling by night to find Jesus, far from the stable of his birth. The second recollection of God making the presence of Christ known was celebrated on the Sunday just past – the Baptism of Christ - and in the gospel reading we heard Jesus’ recollection of God telling him that he was God’s beloved. And the third theme which we’ll mark on the final Sunday of Epiphany is the wonderful account of ordinary water becoming extraordinary wine in the presence of Christ. God’s generosity indeed. And great uncertainty. The magi followed a star they had seen rising and to follow a star the journey must take place at night, in the uncertain darkness. John the Baptist, whilst baptising for the repentance of sins, told the people, ‘there is one greater who is coming after me’, but he didn’t know who he was. There’d been many claiming to be Messiah. At Jesus’ baptism the uncertainty gave way to certainty. And too, at the wedding in Cana, the servants were simply told by an exasperated Mary to ‘do whatever Jesus tells you to do’. There was no certainty at all that there would be any wine of any quality, let alone the ‘best kept for last’. Into human uncertainty God’s Christ comes. He is locked down with us; he is sad with us; he rejoices with us; weeps with us; and just sits in silence with us. Christ’s presence doesn’t make certain the uncertain, but it does mean that we’re never on our own. At a time when the one thing we may crave – engaging in real life with people we don’t live with – is the most important thing to go without, it is easy to feel alone, but we are not. May this season of Epiphany remind us of Christ’s presence with us in the ordinary as well as in the extraordinary. Dean Dianna
