News

Read the November 2023 edition of the Haltwhistle Herald.

Read the October 2023 edition of the Haltwhistle Herald.

Read the September 2023 edition of the Haltwhistle Herald.

The deep dark skies of winter, the slowly lengthening days of Spring, the seasons slowly turn and very soon it will be the anniversary of my arrival in Northumberland! I’m in the middle of planning the next few months services and am conscious that these are the last months where I don’t know what happened last year. I’ve been building on the work of others as I keep asking, what did you do last year, and what do you normally do? Of course the answers to those different questions are often different because the lingering effects of Covid on our society were still with us last year –  when I came, we opened up receiving Communion in bread and wine again, and having coffee mornings was still a novelty. But when it comes to what we normally do, the answers I get are sometimes a huge discussion as people remember different things from different eras of church life, sometimes going back decades, with half a hope that we might reinstate that way of life again – we nearly always remember the more glorious things when discussing hopes for the future.

I think it’s lovely when we do remember the good things of the past. Those who suffer from depression can sometimes only remember the things that went badly or the wrongs of the past, but both good and bad combine to make the patchwork of life, and to focus on whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, is surely the way to life. If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things, and the peace of God will come to you much more easily in the trials of today.

I’m looking ahead to Lent and Holy Week in my planning as I write, but this year also brings a coronation and I wonder what, if anything, our towns and villages will do for that and how the church can join in. And Haltwhistle may have a carnival in the summer, and if so, I was wondering about having a church float in the procession since we’re part of the fabric of what makes this area good. Plans, plans, plans. But don’t forget to give thanks for the present moment.

I wish you all the best for 2023.

This time last year I’d been interviewed, they’d told me I’d got the job, but I couldn’t tell anyone yet because the DBS police checks were being processed. Everyone here knew there had been interviews and they were waiting for news – why weren’t they announcing who was coming?!

Meanwhile, in my old parishes there were big changes ahead which they knew nothing about! What a strange state of affairs. I could go on to think that at the birth of Jesus, some were unaware that something big was about to happen, meanwhile the Wise Men and all who were waiting for the kingdom of God were wondering why God was taking so long to reveal his plan, while the select few, Mary and Joseph, already knew the news!

Typical clergy thinking of parallels there. People who talk of God seem often to talk of parallels to explain a point, and search for illustrations and sometimes it can get a bit corny, but the problem is when talking of God, that it’s a bit hard to express the depths that are there when you walk with him.

The bible talks of the Spirit of God, like a wind, or in other places like a burning fire within, or God rescuing his people, carrying them on eagle’s wings, or in another place renewing their strength so they soar like eagles. I hope this Christmas time that you will spend a moment thinking deeply about what is going on in the story, enough to need some sort of parallel to explain to someone else what entering into the story was doing to you. When I saw who else was coming, when I entered the stable, when I saw the babe with its parents and knew him, it was as if…

I’m looking forward to Christmas and hope to see you at some of the events advertised elsewhere in these pages. I wish you all the best for the season 🎅.