Dear friends,

It only seems like two minutes since we were celebrating Christmas - God with us, and now we are preparing ourselves for Easter! Why is it that we move so quickly from birth to death? I am sure that you will have other questions too!

As I write this we are still in the season of Epiphany, like the Magi and the shepherds we have been to the scene of the nativity, we have received the invitation to accept the love and light of Christ into our own hearts and now we move away and turn to face the world. What do we do, how will we do it, who will we meet? In the church calendar we quickly move from the miraculous story and events around Christs birth, we recall key moments from Jesus’ ministry establishing his Kingship and then we approach the miraculous story of Jesus death and resurrection. And because of these things -we have a story -the greatest story ever told to share with others. The story of how God so loved the world that he sent us his Son so that we could know just how much! During Advent we were encouraged to hanker down, to reflect along with the forebearers of our faith Abraham and Sarah, the prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist, and the imminence of Jesus’ birth with Mary. Through Christmas we open our homes and hearts to the wonder of Christ with us, slowly through Epiphany we turn to examine the world and we see the need for the light of Christ to reach into every corner. As we approach Lent let us examine the life of Jesus and learn from his example about how we turn up our own lights and allow them to shine brightly with Christ. To help us do that we will be offering a Lent course called Life Attitudes by Robert Warren. This is a great opportunity to examine and discuss the teachings of Christ from his most famous sermon on the mount, the Beatitudes.

I look forward to meeting you and getting to know you as we explore together the relevance of the beatitudes for todays world. We will be holding a daytime course in Chapmanslade and an evening course in Dilton Marsh. You are welcome to attend either please book your place with Sally [email protected] (also stating dietary preferences if the evening course).

Grace and peace, 

Revd Caroline