New beginnings.
Dear Friends
From
2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17: So
if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed
away; see, everything has become new!
At
a special service at 7.30pm on Wednesday November 6th Revd. Tim
Parker will become our Priest in Charge for the Benefice. Welcome to Tim!
When
you read this page in your Compass in December, he will be the author. That’s
the first new beginning.
On
Remembrance Sunday, 10th November, we recall the wars when men and
women turned their back on their “normal life” and headed for a new beginning.
Some went to fight in the war, joined the Land Army, or started working in
munitions factories, for example. Children living in risky areas left the
familiarity of home, beginning life as evacuees in safer places. Their
life-changing decisions were all about a better world of freedom, where
dictatorship and injustice would be destroyed. Even now, for some families,
deeply affected by loss of life or serious injuries to brave soldiers, their
future is a new, very difficult beginning.
We
still do not live in an idyllic world. We are appalled by the horrors at the
Nairobi shopping centre and the desperation of the “boat people” who died in
the sea, only yards away from escape to an Italian island.
I was given the words of a
hymn, which ends with this verse –
“Still
we need dreams, O God, make us your dreamers,
Inflame
our passion for a world made whole,
A
world where love extends to all a welcome,
Where
justice, like a powerful stream, will roll.
Come,
Prince of Peace, our fading hope rekindle,
‘Your
kingdom come’ we pray, let peace be made.”
Please
join me in praying to Jesus, the Prince of Peace, for that kind of world. Let’s
start by praying for peace, especially in areas of conflict, and for the people
who are striving, at home and abroad, to bring about that peace.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God. (Matt 5.9)
This world needs a new
beginning. Each of us needs a new beginning – Jesus gives us that New Life,
through the Holy Spirit. Accept it for yourself and He will change you for
eternity.
May the peace of the Lord be
always with you.
Sue
No comments:
Post a Comment