Minister's Letter

February 2012

Dear Friends,

We are communicators. We communicate with each other and, at our best, we explore paths of communication with God. For most of us, words are the tools by which we communicate. This is not to say that visual artists and musicians of all kinds don't speak to us all and to God-and sometimes movingly and magnificently-but most of us have words as our tools. Words are our currency.

In one sense the New Testament is full of words about humanity coming to understand the enormity and wonder of the gift we have been given in the birth of Jesus Christ. There is an unfolding of understanding and experience as we move through the Gospel stories to the history of the establishment of the Church and finally to the great vision of Revelation, that confusing and mysterious book which complements the book of Genesis which says “In the beginning –God!” whilst the final book of the New Testament says “In the end – God!”

In the Church year we now move from the Christmas and Epiphany stories of those who saw and recognised Jesus as the Christ to the season of Lent where we are confronted with those who could not or would not see. For a prayer you might like to use the simple and yet powerful words of St. Benedict.

O gracious and holy Father,

give us wisdom to perceive you,

intelligence to understand you,

diligence to seek you,

patience to wait for you,

eyes to see you,

a heart to meditate on you,

and a life to proclaim you,

through the power of the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Yours in Christ

David G. Vale