So Lent this year is a chance to go deeper. At least one of the creeds was written as a result of Christians in the first few centuries arguing over what was true and what wasn’t about God – and once they’d decided, they pinned it down (sounds so simple but it took a few decades!).

Sounds very neat but much of what Rowan Williams in his book ‘Tokens of Trust’ is saying is that’s exactly what you can’t do with God – pin him down. Try to describe someone you know really well – their personality, what makes them tick…you can have a stab at it, but because they’re a living and growing being, you will never quite manage it.

God is a living and growing being too so, as we study some of these words, we must remember they’re only a shadow of what an amazing God he is and how much he loves each one of us.

You’ll survive 40 days without food, three days without water and eight minutes without air.  But how long can we go without faith, hope and love?  Material and spiritual needs are best met as one. 

 At our Tearfund lunch* this year we will hear more about Tearfund’s ‘Make life flow’ campaign which forms part of Tearfund’s ten-year ‘Be part of a miracle’ vision to see 50 million people released from material and spiritual poverty through a worldwide network of 100,000 churches. 
We will follow thirteen-year-old Stidia, who lives in Kigazi village in Uganda.  Every day she makes two trips down a steep, dangerous mountain to fetch water from a spring.  In her short life, she has walked more than 13,000 miles, collecting water.  Yet, she’s never left her Ugandan village. 
We will learn how Stidia’s life and those of the rest of the community are being transformed, thanks to Tearfund’s church partners and their mission to make access to clean water and decent sanitation a reality.  Large rainwater tanks are appearing as Tearfund’s church based partners train groups of village mums to build them.
*March 7

February – CrossLinks

If you are not on the PCC, you may wonder how we decide on our giving to missions each year. All the societies we supported have had a St C’s member working for them. We then tend to support that society until another link opens up. This is why we are having a change, as Nia Early is now working in South East Asia with Linc Ministries.
Linc Ministries is a branch of Crosslinks. The name changed from BCMS (Bible Churchman’s Missionary Society) to Crosslinks in 1992 to emphasis the fact that for Crosslinks mission is no longer ‘the west to the rest’ but ‘everywhere to everywhere’. Also, a fair number of the missionaries are women!
The cross of Christ is the main link between God and human beings, and the cross also links race to race, nation to nation and culture to culture.
The name also helps to make possible work in some of the 60 or so countries where ‘Bible’, ‘Church’ and ‘Missionary’ are not acceptable.

We’ll say more about Nia in the future, but meanwhile there are newsletters from her in church on Sundays.

St C’s are receiving donations on Sundays up to 31st January. About £130 given so far.
You can continue to donate directly after then:
See Tearfund
or DEC

It is true that Jesus arrived quietly and unannounced but his adult ministry was anything but quiet, everywhere he went he was in the thick of things, meeting people, healing people, telling stories and living life to the full. In fact John’s account of Jesus’ life has Jesus saying “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full”.

So if finding time for quiet this advent is not likely for you then find Jesus in the business of life. As you look into the faces of your friends and colleagues remember that Jesus, God, chose to come and live among us as one of us with a human body and a human face. Our God is a God who wants us to live life to the full and came to live with us in Jesus. He is a God of real people and real situations and shared in the joys and sorrows of real life. As we picture Jesus in our friends and family we may just find Christmas takes on a deeper and more real meaning……