One afternoon I was at home when there was a knock on the door. A package had arrived! Addressed to me!! This was an order I had placed only a couple of days before, and which I thought would be delivered 8-10 days hence. What unexpected joy! I opened it and found inside some decorations I had ordered as gifts. These beautiful, bejewelled ornaments had looked tiny and elegant on the webpage. In reality they were about the size of both my hands. Not quite the thing to tuck into a friend’s Christmas card.
As we enter a time of waiting and hope, of watching for signs and rejoicing, it helps if we read the label!
On Wednesday mornings, a group of disciples meets in the Barnabas room to do just that. Gathered round a big table, a dozen or so people work with Canon Bruce to read and understand John’s Gospel. There is an atmosphere of focus and interest, an enthusiasm for the Holy Scripture, for Canon Bruce’s words of explanation, and for the time taken in community, to explore what God’s Word is for us.
Other expressions of that “reading the label” work taking place at Saint Faith’s include the monthly Julian group meetings for prayer, where God’s voice can be heard in stillness, and the Tuesday hospitality to Kurdish families – where their cares and concerns, their learning and their chance to put down new roots is a gift to our community. Emmanuel; God is with us in so many ways and woven through all this is our gathering for Mass on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
Jesus’ birth comes to us as a long-anticipated surprise. We eagerly watch and wait – we create a place of welcome, of prayer, of study and of service. In the heart of Landport at Saint Faith’s we prepare ourselves to be astonished. #GodWithUs
Rev. Barbara