Dear Friends,
The family and I are looking forward to spending our first Christmas here in Turton Moorland Team. Last year, before officially joining the Team, we loved being involved with the Young Farmers Tractor Run at Dunscar, and the community spirit, energy, and, of course, the mulled wine and mince pies afterwards! This year, we look forward to experiencing Christmas more widely across the whole team.
We hope the range of services and activities on offer will provide something for everyone. There are team flyers advertising Carol, Crib, and Christmas Services, as well as the Advent Course, and many other concerts and services advertised on pewsheets, flyers and social media. This year, there will also be a Blue Carol Service for those who find Christmas an especially difficult time of year, for whatever reason.
To state the obvious, this time of year comes with both the highs and lows.
From what we understand of that first Christmas, the holy family were not immune from that rollercoaster either: from uncertainty around exactly where Mary would give birth (no warm, well lit maternity unit for her) to the unlikely visitors who came to see them, and the need to flee as refugees to Egypt for an unknown length of time to escape the threats of King Herod. They too faced the pressures of uncertainty.
And yet, out of that very unpromising start, God’s Son grew; and his light and life have continued to reach out into the world offering hope, light and joy, even in the darkest and most unexpected of places.
We hope you find a warm welcome in all our churches this Christmas. Please come and join us as you are, whether you are bubbling over with joy or facing uncertain times.
And may the Christmas lights, shining brightly all around us, be an ever so small reminder of the hope and love of God, which St. John reminds us ‘shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome’.
Prayers and blessings this Advent and Christmas,
Rev’d Ian Hepburn
Team Rector of Turton Moorland Team Ministry
