Minister’s Message 7 December
Dear Friends
You will probably be familiar with the themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love that are taken on the successive Sundays of Advent as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus in whom all of these things find their fulfilment. In Jesus the Word of God was made flesh and as the Body of Christ, we, the Church are also called to embody the words we use in our worship.
It is one thing to light a candle during an act of worship in church or in our homes and to speak these familiar words of hope, peace, joy and love, but it is another thing altogether to live out these themes in our daily lives and yet if our Advent and Christmas celebrations are to be more than lip-service we each need to be thinking about how hope, peace, joy and love may be the hallmarks of our actions day by day.
The theme for this second week of Advent is Peace and I would like to encourage you to think of ways in which Peace might be a focus for your own thoughts and prayers during the course of the week and evident in the way you speak and act.
Peace is not just the absence of conflict. The Hebrew word 'shalom' has a sense of wholeness and healing as well as what we would normally think of as peace. I wonder what it might look like for you to practice the peace of God in the coming week? Peace with yourself and peace with your family and friends that may have an impact in the life of our community and nation and world.
Take time to be still before God each day this week and ask the Prince of Peace to bring you healing and wholeness and to make you an agent of His reconciliation in the wider world for if we allow Christ to transform us, the world will be one step closer to being what God desires it to be.
Jesus said, “Peace be with you!”
Alan
Revd A D Reid