Dear Friends,The link above is to the prayers at the Advent Candle, filmed last year. I will send a link to the Advent 1 candle to follow this email.In going back to these videos I am reminded that last year we only returned to church for Advent 2, amid the uncertainty of Christmas preparations then. Now, from conversations I've had with locals, I know we are in another time when people feel uncertain and anxiety is rising again.Our Advent readings remind us that throughout the history of the people of God there have been times of uncertainty, times of sorrow, times when people seek from their God the assurance of comfort and calm - "salvation"- a word that carries a depth of meaning that combines health and wholeness, well being and peace. What the Christian tradition offers is a vison that sees Jesus as the one who offers the fulfillment of those desires - by coming into the ordinary confusion,anxiety and sorrow of the human experience and walking us into a trust in God that holds us in the darkness and in the light.However you are feeling today, whatever you are facing in your own life, whatver your heart is aching for in our wider community and world, I pray that candles lit, the beauty of a new moon or the lights that twinkle in the long nights will be little signs of the hope and trust and love that Advent offers.God blessSamanthaSo far only 29 of 70 on the email list I send out to have replied to the lynvalleymissionoffice@gmail.com to say you would like to continue receieving these emails. Because the Christmas dates are included on this newsletter I am extending using the full list to make sure you all get it - but please help us comply with GDPR by emailing Sam at the office address to continue to receieve our emails.
Services, events and texts for December and Christmas.
Dear Friends,We come, this week, to the end of the church year. It is a good time for each of us to look back over the last year - deep in lockdown at this time, the quiet Christmas, our gradual return to church worship from Easter onwards, each church and each one of us finding our own journey through the challenges of a world where vaccines give hope, but our care for one another is still essential, the emergence of issues in our personal lives and our lives together that the lockdown paused or made worse or highlighted, the joys of re-uniting with loved ones, the sorrows borne with others or shouldered alone - the life giving, the draining, the fruitful and the challenging. Where have you felt God close to you this year: really remember those times, and what that felt like: give thanks for those times Where did it feel you were distanced from God: hold the feeling of those times out to God for God's healing and reconciliation. The new Christian year begins a time when nature encourages us to turn inward: shorter colder days may send us indoors, and offer us some preparation time. In the pattern of the Christian year Advent is a time of quiet preparation, we begin with preparation, not a rush into action.As you have looked back over the last year, what might you want to let go of, to free you in life and faith in the coming year? What might you want to draw into your life to help you deepen in faith and love? Now is a time just to notice these things, to ask for the grace to let go, and the grace to take up whatever moves you closer to God in the coming year.God blessSamantha
Dear Friends,This weekend we mark Remembrance Sunday. There will be an Act of Remembrance at the War Memorials in Lynton (outside the Town Hall) and Parracombe (outside Christchurch) from 10.45 am. In Lynton this will be followed by a service in St Mary’s at 11.20. In Martinhoe there will be service of Holy Communion with an Act of Remembrance beginning at 9am. As I gathered with the children and teachers of the West Exmoor Federation for their service at Woody Bay Station on Armistice Day (see sermon), I was reminded that we were not able to keep to this tradition last year. What we were aware of last year though, was the comparisons people were making between the community spirit that had arisen as neighbours came together in mutual support through the early days of pandemic lockdown, and the experience of war-time resilience.It is my hope, that our remembering together this year re-invigorates that spirit of service, love and care that represents the best of human nature. That it reminds us of our hope to reset our values and attitudes as we recover from the pandemic. Reading the names of those from the area who lost their lives in the wars of the 20th century is a huge privilege, and here it is a deeply profound experience because the surnames are those still familiar in local life (in a way that is less direct in bigger towns and cities). We have the privilege of living in close knit communities – it is my prayer that we can continue to honour the generations who have shaped our communities by the love we continue to show for each other, and to those who visit this place, modelling that “pandemic reset” we all hoped for.God blessSamantha
