Letters

Dear friends, Sometimes when I am leading a Communion service, I notice that the steward has provided us with a lot more bread and wine than we need to share with the number of people present at the service. Of course, we do not want to waste bread and wine, but to have more than enough of these reminds us of God’s bountiful provision of grace: that God provides us not just with the basic minimum but is more than generous in…

Dear friends, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24) The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which we would usually mark around this time of year, sadly seems to be another casualty of the pandemic. Most of us are not able even to worship in our own building, let alone anyone else’s! We can, however, to…

Dear friends, “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.” Psalm 89, “a Maskil of Ethen the Ezrahite”, verses 1-2, NIV These verses and more of Psalm 89 appear in our lectionary for the fourth Sunday of Advent this year. A Maskil psalm is so-called because it is deemed to share…

Dear brothers and sisters, It is always a privilege for ministers to address ourselves to you all. I feel joy doing it! I pray that the Lord supports you in these difficult times! Leafing through the Bible, I found a verse that talked to my heart and that I want to share with you.  ‘Be the fruit of the Spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is not law.’  Galatians 5:22-23 At…

Dear friends, “we, who are many, are one body in Christ”  (Romans 12:5) Those familiar words from Paul’s letter to the Romans have never been more pertinent, I believe, than in the last few months. The Coronavirus pandemic has shown us more than ever before not only how inter-dependent we are as individuals but how we are truly part of one body, the Church. Though we serve different communities and work in different ways, all of our congregations have benefitted so…