Dear Friends

When I wrote the February letter last year I was full of the all the changes I had noticed that indicated the oncoming season of Spring ? so that?s one idea I can?t use again! But it?s hard to ignore the dramatic changes that take place in our Christian liturgy at this time of year. Take the Feast of Candlemas, at the beginning of February, for example. On the one hand it?s a point of abrupt change when we leave behind the joys of new birth at Christmas and look forward to the solemnity and sacrifice of Lent and Easter; on the other, we celebrate the life of the baby Jesus being dedicated to God and hear the prophesy of Simeon of His becoming the light of the world. The very candles we use are a symbol of Jesus; a sign of self-giving. A candle can only give light by burning itself away.

So I reckon that this time of year is a time for celebrating life ? new life, life passing from childhood to adulthood, which makes this a time for accepting the responsibilities of life. But life is not static, we mature I like to think, that just as a candle that has burned down to a stub will still produce as much light as a new one (even though it?s not as tall or as smooth as it once was), so the older we get we can still help to shine the light of Christ into the world. Maturity has strength as well as weakness.

By the time you are reading this letter there should not be anyone in our congregation who has not heard of the Road to Renewal. As I wrote last February, change happens around us, sometimes imperceptibly sometimes very noticeably, but it happens. We need to evolve, we need to grow, we need to renew. Our body regenerates (think skin, finger nails and hair rather than Dr Who) and our church has to regenerate to be fit for purpose. Like most organisations our church has problems ranging from ensuring that its individual parts (that?s you and me) are nurtured in spirit and that its whole (that?s you and me as a group) fulfil our Lord?s purpose to bring the Light of Christ to the world. In practical terms this comes down to having trained leaders to guide and lead us, a place to worship in and a commitment to help those in need both spiritually and practically.

The purpose of the Road to Renewal programme is to find out what we, our church members really feel about how best to fulfil these aims; to find new talents and possibly new applications for our talents in our church life and, most of all, to allow all of us renew ourselves as Christians. Remember it doesn?t matter how much of the candle remains it still gives as good a light as a new one!

Hoping to see you along the road.

Ted Day