I just wanted to take the opportunity to send you a few lines at the start of the new year to pray God’s blessing on you and those whom you love and those who you are trying to love!

I started to write a massive ‘newsletter article’ about travelling through life into the new year and the omnipresence of God…. With my apologies I had to stop, it all sounded a bit ‘vicary’.

Instead, have a look at this picture and think about the nativity story for a couple of moments.

Mary, Joseph and the new born Jesus, on the move again. Fleeing Herod’s breath of death, equipped with gifts from wise men in the East, alerted and directed by God stirring in the night. The Gospel, the package and person of salvation, the Saviour, is on the move again.

As we set out into 2018, I am mindful of:

those who have arrived in Lyon recently, displaced, fleeing.

our own needs as a church as we adapt, grow and develop as a community (like Mary in the picture) carrying and delivering Jesus wherever we go.

those who have challenging ‘unknowns’ ahead.

When I think of these things, the nativity story and the provision and protection of the Lord start to grip on our lives’ realities. We don’t know what the next 12 months will contain, there will be challenges, displacements and adventures but one thing is for sure, we can leave the comforting, glowing, rejoicing of the Christmas cradle with confidence. The story is stepping out, the Gospel is on the move again and God is in the business of bringing his purposes to fruition.

Every blessing in 2018, be bold, strong and of good courage, the Lord our God is with us.