Church News Volume 2, Issue 5

Dear friends,

As I write this letter January is well underway. The Christmas and New Year celebrations have faded into the past. In just a few months the spring will be upon us, Easter is in sight. The hope and expectation of better things to come keeps us going, gives us a goal to aim for, makes the cold and dark days of this time of the year more bearable.

We all need something to look forward to, whether it be the spring, a family event, a significant anniversary. Sad is the life of the one who has nothing to look forward to, no aim or purpose for existence.

The Christian year moves relentlessly onward too. No sooner is Advent, Christmas and Epiphany over than we are planning for Holy Week & Easter. No dawdling by the nativity crib, the cross and the empty tomb await us.

The Christian year is not just a reflection of the story of Our Lord, it is also a reflection of our own lives. No sooner are they born than our children have grown up and have changed before we realise it. In no time at all, or so it seems, they are off to school, university, getting married, having children of their own - and so the cycle of life goes on.

In all this we realise how quickly the years pass, we are getting older, the inevitable day will draw upon us when we make the greatest journey of our life, through the gates of death and beyond.

Just as surely as Summer follows Spring , so the Autumn and Winter will come around again. The cycle of life will continue. So too with our life.

But the Christian year also teaches us that following every winter there is another Spring. Following death there is new life offered to all through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.. His birth we celebrated in large numbers this Christmas past, His death and resurrection I hope we can celebrate just as enthusiastically in Holy Week and Easter this April!

Revd Ian M. Finn

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