As always, our Parish News is packed with stories from all our villages, a helpful listing of forthcoming events, lots of small ads, and even a Chuckle Corner to make you laugh!Subscribers, please remember to pick up your copy from St Weonards Village Post Office & Stores. And don't forget your 2025 subs. Thank you!Click to download the January edition of the Parish News in PDF format.
In this week's video, Bishop Richard considers how we can find hope in this season of Advent when 'there is much in the news that could make us depressed.' He reminds us that 'Jesus never promised his followers an easy life. In fact, he said, “in this world you will have trouble.”' So where does our hope lie, and what actually is Christian hope?Reflecting on recent readings from the book of Revelation, Bishop Richard suggests that 'the goal of this writing is to expose a deeper reality lying beneath the one we see. This is not about changing reality, so much as imbuing events with a deeper significance. It is placing their contemporary history into an eternal perspective.''Advent hope lies in our confidence that God is at work moving history to a good conclusion, even when at times it doesn’t feel or even look like it.'Bishop Richard's weekly video #225There is a transcript of this week's video on the diocesan website.
In this week's video, Bishop Richard encourages those of us working hard in our local parishes to receive some words of encouragement.'From the reading for Advent Sunday last week, we read of the apostle Paul’s affection for the Thessalonian church. "How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?" (1 Thessalonians 3:9).' Bishop Richard suggests that perhaps 'the word we all need to hear amid the preparations for Christmas and general busy-ness of the season are those from Paul to the Thessalonians again ... – to hear those words from the Lord as spoken to us.'Bishop Richard's weekly video #224There is a transcript of this week's video on the diocesan website.
What a strange time of year this is. Darker, colder, harder. And brimming with mystery and weird hope. Advent serves as a kind of long dawn, leading us towards the disarming light of a vulnerable, sweet, refugee baby who is God with us, kingdom come, Emmanuel. Little Jesus: glorious, outrageous disrupter.In the sometimes troubling and overwhelming personal circumstances of our days and nights, in the pervasively unbalanced state of our world, the magic of this time of year invites us for a moment to suspend business as usual. We raise our heads from normal life and see something beyond the soulless powers and systems we all must operate within. God is here with us. Hope becomes a peaceful, resolute protest.Enjoy the twinkly lights and sparkles in all their loveliness: they symbolise that stubborn, determined Christmas hope, shining out joy in the murky darkness, representing a love that knows no bounds, encompassing us all. The little baby Jesus from your nativity scene is offering every one of us a peace that runs deeper.Peace be with you this Christmas time.With love and prayers,Rev Angie x
