Weekly Letter from St Luke's - 1st December 2023

Dear Parish Friends

Happy New year! No, I'm not a month out; this Sunday is Advent Sunday and marks the start of a new church year. So we start again our annual cycle of remembering the story of Jesus, as God's plan of salvation for the whole of creation. So the theme of our readings this weekend reflect on the Advent Hope. The prophet Isaiah reminds his people that, though they may have forgotten God and his marvellous works, surely God has not forgotten that they are still his people (Isaiah 64:9). The psalmist cries 'restore us again, O Lord of hosts: show us the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved' (Psalm 80:7). Then, from the writings of St Paul we are reminded that we are indeed the recipients of the 'grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus' (1 Cor. 1:4). Finally, our gospel passage from Mark is a reminder that the best is yet to come; we live in the hope of the day when we will see 'the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory' (Mark 13:26).

Our services are at 7am and 9am as usual, with children's church and Zoom streaming at 9am. The week's notice paper and 9am service sheet are available via the links below.

And finally 'hot-off-the-press', the December edition of 'Church News' is available online on our website. Printed copies for those who can't access the online version will be in church next week.

Yours in Christ

Rev'd Timothy