Feburary 2025

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Dear Friends,

 

I greet you in the name of our Lord and Saviour and pray that you are well.

 

It is fantastic to contemplate what it means to be in a new season. As many of you would know, on February 1st, we are expecting our first grandchild.  It's been a wonderful and soulful time preparing for a new baby. While settling into a new country and vocation, the beginning of 2025 has undoubtedly been a year for me to anticipate and reflect on what it means to embrace new beginnings.

 

I imagine many of you by now have had your Covenant Service; these promises have been a great blessing for so many reasons. It gives us a sense of God's love and purpose, as well as direction in our lives and deep connection with one another globally. The Methodist Covenant Service seems to ground our faith and bring our imagination to Godly possibilities while reminding us of how audacious and vulnerable these promises are. The Covenant Service exquisitely confronts us with the idea of surrender. The covenant prayer says that sometimes our covenant promises are against our human nature. I often wonder how life presents us with situations that feel a little against our human nature and capacity and how the grace of God enables us to imagine new things even when they seem impossible. In some churches I've preached, people have made their Covenant promises for more than 75 years, a faithful presence of God’s Disciples.

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Living our lives as people of faith has many ups and downs; these extracts from John Wesley's Diaries attest to his life's uncertainties and challenges:

 

“Sunday, A.M., May 5: Preached in St. Anne’s. Was asked not to come back anymore. Sunday, P.M., May 5: Preached in St. John’s. Deacons said “Get out and stay out.” Sunday, A.M., May 12: Preached in St. Jude’s. Can’t go back there, either. Sunday, A.M., May 19: Preached in St. Somebody Else’s. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return. Sunday, P.M., May 19: Preached on street. Kicked off street. Sunday, A.M., May 26: Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service. Sunday, A.M., June 2: Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway. Sunday, P.M., June 2: Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.”

 

Quite staggering and a sober reminder of what it takes to sometimes keep our faith amidst perplexing times. I pray that February will find you gifted with the joy of being the witness of Christ, remembering God is faithful and present in all seasons.

I pray that the presence of new beginnings, the gift of grace, and the promise of the covenant will align deeply with your soul and spirit.

 

In Christ's love,

 

Jacqui