Ministry Team Letter for the Month

Dear Friends,

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We have now stepped over the threshold from Summer to Autumn but as I write this on the last day of Summer I have, fresh in my memory, my day off and what a wonderful day it was with a clear sky and a lovely warm breeze as my wife and I walked along the seafront in Weymouth.

 

We had the added gift of a chance meeting with one of our Wareham congregation who was there on holiday and what a lovely bright smile of welcome we had from them when we met.

 

There is much joy to be shared in unexpected meetings like this.

As the Seasons turn, we may feel that the joys and lovely weather are passing and that the long evenings of the past months are to be replaced by shorter days and longer nights.

 

Yet for me there is so much to look forward to with this passing of the Seasons.

As we look to Harvest Festivals, we may remember the words of John Keats’ wonderful poem whose first line “Mists and mellow fruitfulness “immediately brings to my mind a beautiful Autumn day resplendent with wonderful gifts that nature and humanity can provide when we work together in harmony.

           

As we watch or listen to the news, we may feel anxious over what is happening both in our world and in our nation with increased restrictions for Covid and the concerns over climate change, and this can cause a certain amount of anxiety and even fear and yet with all that we have experienced so far, I believe in many ways we have much to be thankful for.           

                          

Cont’d…

Just a few examples among others are the ways that both church and communities have become more involved in ways of outreach, reaching out in ever more innovative ways to engage with and help others.  Also, the ways over the past months in which many have developed a greater appreciation and concern for protecting and caring for God’s creation that we are part of and share with all of the natural world.

 

I find the Dutch Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom a wonderful inspiration.

Despite all that she experienced she lived the rest of her life sharing the Good News of Jesus throughout the world and once wrote these words of trust and hope.

 

 “Never fear to trust in placing an unknown future into the hands of a known living (and may I say loving) God”.

 

I believe that we have so much to be thankful for, and to look forward to.

God is gracious to us in so many ways and, as we look towards Autumn and Winter, we can be confident that we go into the future trusting and knowing that God is faithful and is with us always.

 

Thanks be to God.

                                            Michael  

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