First, we should celebrate our Christmas present from the United Reformed Church (and the generosity of the Methodist Church), in that we have been successful in our application for a £30,000 grant towards the appointment of our Community and Family Worker. Our immediate focus will be on supporting our work with children and young people, working outwards from there. As I write we are in the process of completing our Application Pack, which will contain all kinds of information on our Church, our Fresh Horizons Vision, the role we want to fill, and our Job Description. Beyond this, we will work with the Methodist Circuit to agree a timetable for recruitment (where we advertise, for how long, and how we move to interviews.) I think it fair to say that whilst much will be going on in the background, some good things are worth waiting for.
The second part of our Fresh Horizon’s vision concerns how we make changes to our building in order to make us more hospitable. The immediate urgency is to improve access – whether you come to church with a push chair, stroller, walking stick – we are here for everyone. Beyond this is the quesion of how we make better use of our foyet. Whilst we still need to make progress on what we do (again I am writing ahead of Christmas so this may be out of date by the time your read it), we are at least working in the right direction.
Christmas, and the visit of the Wise Men, is for me about hospitality and welcome. If the family who welcomed Mary and Joseph had not shown hospitality the story would have turned out differently. If Joseph has not been such a good father, in accepting Mary, and protecting the family the same would be true. And if the Wise Men had been unable to discern false hospitality from the real thing, Jesus and his entire family would be dead. (Herod was not interested in paying homage to Jesus but protecting his own power.)
So what is my Christmas and New Year message to the good folk of Whittlesey? It is that hospitality is a matter of life and death. And hospitality not includes how we welcome people and help them find a home in our Church. It is about feeding people, physically and spiritually. And it is about protecting people from the ravages of a world that in certain places, is in turmoil. The Good News is that God is alive and kicking in that world – screaming, and alive, and kicking in fact – bringing light to dark places, through those who follow Him and his ways. It is plain to me that our Church is a place where people can find light and love, and a place where we can experience deep friendship and joy as we journey together, and a deep satisfaction in knowing that God has a plan for our church, our lives, and those we seek to help. In a sense, words are a blunt tool to try and communicate what if feels like to be here. You have to experience it. So come. All are welcome. Come and be refreshed. Come and let your perspective on life be changed by looking to a new horizon.