‘When I am filled with cares, Your comfort brings me joy.’ Psalm 94.19

Its been a difficult year for all of us. It seems so apt that at St Marks we should be following the Church of England advent theme of ‘Comfort and Joy’. With all the change and uncertainty there have been a few things that have helped ground us in what we might name the comfort of ‘normality’. For me, the change of seasons is a wonderful thing and as I step over frosted leaves on the school run this morning, I found comfort when reminded that God’s earth is designed this way, the world expressed in continual movement with new things given each day for our experience and enjoyment.

Our faith life is hopefully a moving and growing thing as well. Our worshipping community has had to adapt dramatically to the pandemic and apart from the many events and services being streamed online, it’s been great to see our regular church groups providing new and creative alternatives for keeping in community. I have heard some wonderful stories both in and outside our church, about how people have looked out for one another and this has been a profound source of hope and encouragement.

With everything that’s happening this year, I hope the well-known stories that we read in the Bible at Christmas will come through with an extra depth and dimension for you. Perhaps we may receive fresh insight into the plight of refugees like Mary and Joseph as unexpected events took over their life, and whose plans were turned totally upside down. In this there is something about how the best laid human plans are never as good as Gods’, and as his story unfolds around us (and also inside us), we discover the best, most hopeful news story is from Him. A story about how Jesus came into the world as a tiny-yet-big miracle! How He would make Himself small yet be able to rescue us from all the badness and sadness and darkness.

We hope that you will be able to experience some of this Christmas miracle with us this Advent. Look out for how to book and join for one of our small special services, the churchyard ‘Advent Journey’ or just follow our website and services online at home.

From all the clergy we pray you may have the Lord’s Comfort and Joy in your hearts and His Peace for this season and beyond. 

Jonathan