A Word from one of our Ministers

Friends,

It is always slightly strange to be writing this so long before Christmas, but this is the system and so we do! But you will need to bear with me whilst I get to Christmas now…

I read somewhere recently that faith requires us to relinquish control. That concurs with the 12 step programme, which uses the word “surrender” in relation to a Higher Power. We are constantly battling the ways of the world, our own humanity and our desires – all against the call of God on our lives. We have fears and beliefs around what we think is possible and I see a national church with falling membership, a local church struggling with reducing numbers of volunteers and financial challenges. I suspect that some of us think that it is impossible for us to bring the church, local or national, back into growth, to turn around the trajectory; I think I would agree. It is indeed likely to be impossible FOR US. But not for our God.

Humanity tends to see the challenges, the negative, the hurdles. I don’t know what God focuses on. I suspect that God is more interested in the man who slid into the back row on Sunday morning for only his second visit and saw how warmly he was welcomed. I think God is interested in the conversations I have been having with another man who is being increasingly drawn to church events and who wants to encounter God. I hope God is watching over the Monday night course and is encouraged by the depths of the conversations which are happening, where people are feeling a bit uncomfortable, but they keep coming. I know God is moving amongst the families
at Messy Church and is inspiring our volunteers. God is drawing new people into conversations at the Friday Café, and the community that uses the Cafes that run alongside the Community Fridge on Tuesdays and Thursdays is growing stronger too. These are green shoots of promise…….

If faith does indeed require us to surrender to God’s will, that sounds tricky. You might disagree – that’s OK too. For me, Christmas is an opportunity to reflect further on this: look at what God did through Elizabeth and Zechariah, through Mary and Joseph, and their lives. Could we set aside our own agendas and desires, ambitions and ideas, and realise that WE cannot do the work for the growth of Cornerstone on our own, but that God indeed can do it, if it is God’s will (and we might need to be open to the idea that it might not be: God might have a bigger plan). Then we would be able to join Mary in the soaring praise of the Magnificat in the words of that
lovely hymn: “Tell out my soul, the greatness of the Lord!”

This Christmas, would you join me in seeking out the tiny, tender shoots of hope that spring up from the stumps of the past, and find joy and deep peace in doing God’s will, for the sake of the Kingdom?

As we begin Advent together now, my prayer is that we are all able to take some time to pause in the hurly-burly of the Christmas madness and appreciate afresh all that God came to earth as Emmanuel to be for us. In time, I wish you and all your families the joy of the Christmas season,and the blessings of the Christ-child, fresh from heaven in the manger, vulnerable and precious, as every new baby is. May we know that deep peace that comes from knowing Jesus, now and evermore.

Blessings,
Sarah