We draw near to the end of another year, and the last twelve months seem to have passed very quickly – is it really one year since I last wrote the final message for 2024? As we look around us and recall what has happened since this same time last year, the world is a different place. Yes, we still have the war between Ukraine and Russia, but there is a fragile peace that exists in the Middle East. The cost of living has risen – as we knew it would – but there are still many who are existing in poverty. Maybe your own personal world has changed too: the loss of a loved one, or perhaps the addition of a new member to the family. Things continue to change and evolve: sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better.
My hope is that as we face inevitable changes to the world – both nationally and locally – we will be able to do so in hope for the future, with an assurance of better times ahead and in the faith of knowing Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Jesus was to be called Emmanuel – God with us – and he is the Light of the World; I hope that we can discover the Light that he brings and that our paths may be lit by that light as we journey on into the future.
May this Christmas time enable you to reflect on the past year, but also to look to the future with confidence that God has a plan for each of us as we trust in him, and that he will be alongside us in everything we encounter in 2026.
May I wish you God’s peace and blessing for Christmas and the New Year.
Revd Graham
