Message from our minister, Clare

Annwyl ffrindiau/Dear friends

Today I had the privilege of being part of a team of volunteers welcoming classes of Year 2 children to Christmas Wrapped Up sessions at Van Road Church. It was joyous to see – and hear! – the children’s enthusiasm and curiosity as they explored the Christmas story through activities led by the charity, Club 707.  I wondered afterwards about how exposure to that joy and excitement might have impacted the adults there.

Advent as we know can be a tricky time to navigate, packed as it is with tradition and memories and expectation. From the very get-go the season is filled with contradictions: As the natural world starts to slumber, our to-do lists can become almost frenzied; as the dark nights lengthen, the bright lights dazzle; as social diaries fill up, our loneliness can come into sharper focus. Our attention and instincts are pulled in multiple different ways, and we can be hard on ourselves when we know we are distracted from the big picture of Christmas that we shared with those children today, the story of God coming down to earth out of love for us and creation.

But I wonder if we might be kinder on ourselves and recognise it doesn’t have to be a case of either/or – we either focus on the big picture or become absorbed in our day-to-day lives? Perhaps Advent is a time when we simply make space to notice God’s hope, peace, joy, love where we can in our everyday, whether it is in the squeals of children or the cold quiet of a December night.

Being a people of hope can seem a tall ask when there is so much pain and conflict and division in the world. Yet we follow a Shepherd born where the animals slept, whose parents were preoccupied with their small family’s safety and survival, and it was precisely into that situation that the world was surprised by hope.

Our God is not a God who shuns the everyday but a God who sees us and joins us there. My prayer is that we can be kind to ourselves and know that the gift of God’s presence is a gift to us in our daily lives.

I look forward to being with you in December and to celebrating my first Advent in the pastorate. It has been such a privilege to begin to serve you and God in this place and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you again for your welcome and to wish you every blessing this Advent and Christmas.

I leave you with a prayer written by Henri Nouwen which captures the contradictions of Advent but expresses the hope rooted in the Good Shepherd who is to come.

Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit
upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do
seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things
look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways
long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy
seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people, walking in darkness,
yet seeking the light.
To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”

Amen.

Pob bendith/Blessings

Clare

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