Dec: Thoughts from Huw

Dear Friends

It is during the season of Advent that we prepare and plan for Christmas. It is a very busy time for many of us and in the hustle and bustle of the festive preparations we can quite easily forget what the season is all about. I came across this prayer from the United Reformed Church prayer handbook 2017 by Cara Heafey who is a nurse and an elder at Cumnor URC near Oxford. I have been given permission by the URC headquarters in London to print her prayer for Wesley News.

God’s presents 

We thank you for the first and best Christmas gift; the gift of Emmanuel, God with us in our fears and frailty, in our joys and desires, in the ordinary moments.

You have elevated the dignity of human beings, by entering into the messiness of human existence.

You have made our bodies holy, and our streets sacred, by entering the world in physical form.

You have made yourself accessible to people everywhere, by entering into our lives in poverty and vulnerability, teaching us what is really of worth.

You have confirmed the authority of women, and enabled us to be called ‘beloved children of God,’ by becoming the child of a woman.

We thank you for meeting us in the place we are, wherever you find us. Amen

In this edition of Wesley News there is a list of Advent and Christmas services and events. Please tell family and friends to come and join us and they will be given a warm Wesley welcome.

With this being the final edition of Wesley News for 2024, I would like to thank Bill Coates our editor for all his work in putting it together, to Brenda Wallace for putting it on our website and to you our readers for all your help, support and prayers for enabling God’s work at Wesley to continue. With God’s love and help we journey in faith into a New Year praying for peace on earth!

Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best wishes
Huw