Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!  We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and would like to wish you the very best for 2009.   

The month of January can sometimes be an anti-climax once the excitement of Christmas is over and the decorations are taken down.  For others, it is a chance to have a bit of a rest after the
busyness of the Christmas season. 

As we have packed away the Christmas decorations and also entered into a New Year, it is helpful too that we don’t inadvertently ‘pack away’ the true meaning of Christmas for Christians.   Whilst it would be a bit much to have Christmas every day, we can live out the message of Christmas each and every day.  We  remember the gift that God gave to each one of us: the ultimate gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.   God gave us Jesus to guide and direct us in the way that we should go.  Jesus Christ set us the example to live by, showed us how to love and care for each other and share the love of God with people.

The writer of Hebrews wrote that,  ‘Jesus is the same, yesterday and
forever.’  (Hebrews 13:8)  In a sense, let us seek to give out the same message of God’s love yesterday today and tomorrow.  Let us pray and look for opportunities to do that with people and in that way the meaning of Christmas will not be ‘packed away’ for them until next Christmas! 

I hope and pray that this year may be one in which we give our best to
ensure that Jesus doesn’t just get ‘packed away’ again until Christmas for people.  Let us share the gift of Jesus, that ultimate gift from God each and everyday and live our lives so that they also reflect the qualities that Jesus Himself taught us. 

As the year 2009 begins and we wait in anticipation to see what it might hold for each of us and our church, let us hold on to the message of
Christmas and make this year a year were Jesus is the centre of all that we do and say.

May God bless you.

Louise & Paul Wood
Captains