Happy New Year 2021

Dear friends,

Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions in 2020 – last year? If you did, perhaps you were surprised to find how many you achieved. Whether it was to get fit, make-over the garden, redecorate the entire downstairs, befriend a lonely neighbour, learn Spanish, or just talk to your children/parents , many of us found the gift of time given in 2020 to be a strange, yet compelling novelty. Despite all the pain and anxiety of the last year we by and large managed to extract some creative goodness from it, even in the midst of the most worrying of situations. We found God was alongside us not only in the new things, but also in the painful realities of loss and despair.

As we face a 2021 that threatens at the moment to outdo even the worst horrors of last year, can I just offer a two word aim for the days ahead?  Be resolute.

Remember what you achieved in all the mess of 2020; remember what we managed as a church and community; remember that God was not far off.  Be resolute, my friends, and this “winter of discontent” will pass.

Sunday Service for the 10th January

You will need the zoom app installed on your device (laptop, tablet, phone or PC) – download from https://www.zoom.us.  Just before the appointed time, run the app, click on “join meeting” and enter the meeting number and passcode below.

11am Holy Communion with Revd Kevin. 636 645 195 and passcode 000162  A eucharist for the Epiphany season, with art, music, and a communion to share at home.

It is absolutely OK to pass these details onto friends and family, who are very welcome to join us. Please don’t however post them on social media. Other online service options can be found on the Langtree Team Ministry Churches website. All live services across the Langtree Team have been suspended for the present. Checkendon and Whitchurch both remain open for private prayer on Wednesdays and Sundays.

You can support Checkendon church via our dedicated and secure online card donation page. Just click on the link. Please also Gift Aid your donation if you pay any income tax. Thank you !

Glorious Things

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (St Paul, to the Colossian Church)

This is the focus of the great hymn “Glorious things of thee are spoken” which reminds us of our eternal hope and destiny as God’s children, and members of His Kingdom. A wonderful version of this hymn has been recorded by the Fountainview Christian Academy in British Columbia, Canada which I offer to you as a bright point of light in your week. Click on this link to hear it.

It is the season of the Epiphany, when the light of Christ is revealed to Israel, and to the whole world. Let us walk in that light, resolute in faith and hope.

Grace, mercy, and peace be with us all.

Your Rector, Revd Kevin