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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 🎅.

A greenhouse is hardly the sort of picture you’d think topical for November, but we’ve been amazed at how many people have been noticing its progress – you wouldn’t think we live down a dead end road with nobody passing! Now you can see it is ready! Woo woo! From ordering it took three months to arrive, and then with one thing and another it’s taken me three months to put it together. But I have put it together and in time before the deadline of winter frosts and so on!

Having your life together before the final deadline is important and of course this month is a poignant time for remembering that. We have All Saints and All Souls, Remembrance, and then will finish the month with Advent Sunday, the feast day we mark/celebrate an event we don’t yet know the date of. Some people like the joke about old people reading the bible a lot – ‘swotting for their finals’. Of course, it’s not knowing the bible that is the main thing, or even the date, but knowing and walking with God, though I recommend reading the bible as well, especially the gospels.

Before the Queen’s funeral I gave all the school children in our church schools a candle, explaining that sometimes people light a candle for someone as a kind of prayer in itself. When you don’t know what to say but know you want to speak or simply be with God, sometimes it can help to light a candle – a way of saying, ‘I don’t know quite what to say to you God, but I’m thankful for life and want your peace at this moment’. As the flame flickers silently in that still space, it can be easier to receive the peace from God that he wants to give, and with that, to gain the resolve to get up and live as you knew you wanted to. May the peace of God be with you, and as the autumn chill turns winterish, may the warmth of God fill your heart with the good news of his love.