REFLECTIONS
These pieces are written each month by members of our clergy team.
January Leader
I guess most of you will have had the same reaction that I had when I started to think about the year 2026 – where did 2025 go! They say that the older you get the faster the years seem to go and it's all about the proportion of the year to the number of years you've lived. Well that might be the case but here we are and 2026 has finally arrived and the next twelve months are ahead of us once more. Again, for most of us, filling in the diary [either on paper or on one or more ‘devices’ - I still like both] has already meant some dates are already sorted.It could be holidays. It might be a life changing event like a new school or moving home. Perhaps there is a family wedding coming up or that long awaited surgery is now on schedule. So many things ahead of us that may already be embedded in the diary. For those whose lives are structured around the school year, whether you be a teacher or a parent or grandparent, all the dates are in the diary and even half term has been worked out and negotiated! If we are not careful of course we can plan the whole year, which may be a good thing, but may not leave too much space for the unexpected or simply those moments for rest and refreshment.
Yet for some there is not much point in having a diary or planner. Most days will be empty and spent alone. For others, each day will be the same: full of fear or anxiety; the crushing despair of debt or the realisation that they need yet another drink to cope.
There may be many things in our lives which may or may not need a diary but there is one area we should not leave to chance in our 2026 planning and that is the relationships we have with others. We can often take these for granted and that is a dangerous thing to do it seems to me. We may not have a plan or schedule, but we need to ‘make time’ with those around us, whether family, friends or work. How that works will vary - some relationships are more important. Some may be too complex. All of them can shape our lives.
The author of Ecclesiastes 3:1-12 has some views on ‘time’ that we might want to think about, not all of them comfortable but all of them provide something to think about: “time to keep and a time to cast away” or “a time to keep silence and a time to speak” and there are many more. As we begin 2026, there is one relationship I believe we must give due consideration to and that is the one we may or may not have with God. For those of us who have a strong belief in God, whatever our religion, how do we maintain that in a good and healthy way - it may be different from our other relationships but similar ‘rules’ apply. I think God wants to bless us and give us his peace but are we open to those possibilities? For those reading this who have not really thought about such a relationship or have given up, may 2026 be the year you find that love of God which passes all our understanding. Paul
Gracious Lord, as we begin the cycle of this new year, help us to let go of the past hurts and disappointments and to firmly grasp the opportunities which may lay ahead. May we find our blessings in you and for our part be a blessing to others. In all our endeavours may we find love, light and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Paul
Reflection:
We are now in the Season of Epiphany. The word 'epiphany' means an intense showing, or manifestation and it refers to the revealing of Christ to the Wise Men as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel.
The Season of Epiphany then continues until 2nd February when the Church celebrates Candlemas, or the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The following Sundays are known as the Sundays before Lent with the season of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday, which this year comes rather early on Wednesday 18th February.
The main theme of Epiphany is the ongoing revelation of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Son of God. It begins with the manifestation of Christ to the Wise Men, then the Baptism of Christ, then the recognition of Christ as the Messiah by the first disciples, then the beginning of Christ's public ministry as recorded in Matthew 4: 12 following, and finally the transformation of water into wine at the wedding of Cana, the first of Jesus’s signs, as recorded in John chapter 2.
In this bulletin I would like to share some reflections on the above passage which records Christ’s baptism. The first thing to say is that this event is clearly something of an embarrassment. John the Baptist had come out of the wilderness to call people to repentance and to convict them of their sins in no uncertain terms. In response to his preaching people came out in vast numbers to the river Jordan to be baptised and cleansed from their sins. How embarrassing it must have been for John when Jesus turned up in the queue!
Embarrassing and confusing because Jesus was the one who was sent to save the people from their sins, and as he was without sin, he therefore had no need for John’s baptism of repentance. So what was Jesus doing? In coming for baptism Jesus was doing two things. Firstly, Jesus was standing in solidarity with all of us in our lostness and sin. He is with us in all our struggles and reaches out to us in our failure and fallenness. God is not pointing a condemning finger at us from a distance and leaving us to flounder on our own, but in Christ the love of God comes to us, helps us and ultimately saves us from sin and all that goes with it. Secondly, Jesus is baptised to affirm his status as God’s Son. Notice in the above passage that immediately after his baptism God declares:
‘This is my Son, the beloved One, in whom I am well pleased’
This voice from heaven is accompanied by the presence of the Holy Spirit descending as a dove upon Jesus as he emerges from the river Jordan. Here is a profound manifestation (epiphany), not only of Jesus as God’s Son, but of the blessed Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here is God sending his Son to save us from sin, and the language of love between the Father and the Son, namely the Holy Spirit hovering over the whole scene as a dove.
All physical life starts through water. The breaking of the waters of the womb is a sign that the baby is now ready to be born. The baby emerges into life through water, at one stage we all emerged from the darkness of the womb into the light of the world, from the isolation of being, to the warmth of our mother’s love and body. Similarly through baptism we are once again born through water, but this time it is a spiritual birth, we emerge from the darkness of sin into the light of Christ, from isolation into the warm love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; from aloneness into the family of the Church. In this sense the Season of Epiphany marks not only certain historical events in the life of Jesus, but the ongoing scope for the Epiphany of Christ in our everyday lives. When we are lost in sin and struggling, Jesus is with us, when we are isolated he is with us, when we are feeling down and unhappy with ourselves, Christ reminds us that we are loved and blessed as a child of God. Although our lives are punctuated with memorable occasions, family gatherings, holidays and special experiences, generally life is routine, somewhat humdrum and ordinary. In the normality of our short lives we should be awake and alive to the possibility of 'epiphany' moments - times when the love of God is made clear and known to us. These epiphanies will probably come to us when we least expect them and from surprising quarters. In this sense words from the American Poet Mary Oliver in her poem Sometimes come to mind:
‘Instructions for living a life; Pay attention, be astonished. Tell about it’
MatthewABOUT ST. GILES CHURCH
Monthly Bulletins
It has now been 5 years since we started sending out our monthly Bulletin as a result of the Covid pandemic and I know from various feedback that the Bulletin is very much appreciated. Going forward I remain very committed to making sure that all of us who love St. Giles are kept informed not only of what is going on at our Church but encouraged in the understanding and practice of the Christian faith.In the future we will continue to write to you but every other month making sure that our bulletins coincide with the important occasions in the Church's year. Our next Bulletin will be sent out in July.
Matthew Hughes, May 2025