Dear Friends
As we have entered the Advent season, our thoughts are no doubt very much turning towards Christmas and preparations being made in all our churches to celebrate the birth of Christ. But let’s not forget that Advent is not only a season to prepare for Jesus’ first coming as a baby at Bethlehem, but also a season to prepare for His second coming at the end of time. And hence in the Advent Sunday gospel, we were reminded to ‘Be always on the watch..that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man’ (Luke 21:36).
So how are we using this season of Advent, which so often gets overlooked in the rush towards Christmas? Perhaps you are reading a Christian book, making some extra time to pray or to study your bible, or to reflect upon your life, perhaps with the support of a fellow Christian. All of those are good Advent disciplines which basically means a practical way of exercising our discipleship. One of the things I am doing this year is to follow a daily Advent video series called ‘The Bethlehem Story which concerns the story of the little town in Palestine from the death of Rachel to the birth of Christ. As well as exploring the biblical references to Bethlehem, there are also Palestinian Christians telling their story about life there today. If you would like to follow the series, you can subscribe to the Unreached Network Youtube Channel, where all the previous days videos are available to watch as well. The series is presented by Andy McCullough, who is the teaching pastor at Reading Family Church, and is supported by Bethlehem Bible College and Sabeel-Kairos, a Christian human rights charity working for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. I commend it to you.
On a separate note, it was good to join with folks at St.Philip’s on 21 November for a service to mark the ending of the partnership agreement between the Church of England and the Methodist Church. This agreement has been in place for the last 30 years since the church’s inception and it was good to be reminded of the many ways in which St.Philip’s has engaged in mission to its local community. Though the Methodist Church has now had to withdraw from the partnership, St.Philip’s (under Sarah’s leadership) will continue to look for ways of partnering with all Christians who wish to join with them in continuing to reach out to those in their locality. The ending of monthly Methodist input into St.Philip’s will now mean the team are adopting a new service pattern from January next year when the third Sunday will be designated a Team Sunday and the clergy move around our different churches. I hope this proves a blessing and that you will enjoy seeing more of our clergy across the team.
With my best wishes for a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Stay safe and take care.
Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector
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