Dear Friends

Janus was a minor God of Roman mythology whose responsibilities included ‘turning points’ doors, gates, beginnings and endings.  Portrayed as having two faces, looking forward and back, he gave his name to the first month of the year.  Appropriately, in January, many of us will have taken time to reflect on the year that is gone and to anticipate what the might bring.  Certainly the coming months have been much in my mind as the prospect of work beginning  on our halls comes sharply into focus!

Reflection and anticipation, however, are not deeply embedded in contemporary culture.  For most people the present is all that matters.  Regarding the past many echo Edith Piaf’s words, “No,  don’t regret anything.”  But that is often for public consumption; in private the past dogs their footsteps.  To visit the past may be to risk painful encounters with regret, guilt or sorrow, or to reignite some ancient hurt.  Cherished moments of happiness can seem like small islands in a vast sea of unhappiness.

Sunrise on the shortest day - 21 December 2010

And there is a reluctance to look too far into the future.  Economic and ecological uncertainty combine with more personal concerns about declining health and old age to cloud the outlook.  The present seems the safest place to be.

And of course for many today God is no longer a feature in their thinking or understanding, the God who is eternally existent and infinitely gracious.  The God who is Lord of past, present and future, maker of all things, including time itself, the great ‘I am’.  The God who is, ‘slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness’.  The distinctive word that Christianity introduced to the world in relation to God was the word grace.

It is God’s eternal existence and infinite grace that allows us to look to the past without regret and forward without fear, knowing that he will take us through whatever lies ahead of us, personally or as a Parish.

By the time you read this we will know how much the Parish Centre will cost.  Thank you to all who have contributed ‘one off’ donations or made a commitment over the coming years.  If you have not contributed yet can I urge you to do so.  Amounts are important (the bank is in no doubt of that!) but equally important is the sense that all of us want to be part of the future of the parish in its growth and development.  As we go forward may it be with confidence in the God who goes before us in grace and who wants to bless us as his family in this place, and, through us, the community in which we are set.