A Letter from our Locum Minister
My Dear Friends,
Advent is the Season of the Christian Year in which we begin our preparations for Christmas. It also marks the end of the present Christian Year, which began on the first Sunday of Advent last year, leading us through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost.
Many people are unaware of this yearly cycle, which repeats itself in the Church’s worship. Nevertheless for centuries past it has guided the thoughts of Christians all over the world. Whereas the world follows time dictated by the calendar on the wall, the church acknowledges another calendar in which the rhythm of our daily lives takes place against the background of the mighty acts of God.
Does it matter? Well, I believe it does, because it lifts our lives out of the relentless progress of passing time, which sometimes feels threatening because it cannot be stopped and can never be re-lived. The cycle of the Christian Calendar, repeated as it is year after year, is a constant reminder that our life is more than we can see and our days more than can be numbered.
Soon, the year 2024 will end and the year 2025 will begin. As we add yet another year to our lives, we are yet again of a past that is gone forever and a future that is uncertain and limited.
Think instead then, of a time that never passes away but instead is renewed repeatedly. One in which the past is constantly relived and the future is already in our grasp. Think of a life that never grows old; that is not subject to the ravages of the passing years. Think of the life celebrated in the Church’s worship as we repeat the cycle of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost.
Marking these Seasons of the Christian Year helps us to remember what God has done and promised, and spares us from thinking that our life is only what we see and is measured only by the years we live.
Your friend and Locum
