Our daughter, Clare, brought her Australian friend, Brodie, who is currently working with her in Shrewsbury, to stay with us for Christmas. Brodie was just one of the visitors to Christleton, from so many places far and wide, who joined us for Carols Round the Tree on Christmas Eve. So it was that she was ‘captured’ with Fiona and Clare on camera by our webmaster, Richard Nicholson. On Christmas Day, after the last service, I was taken off to climb Moel Fammau – one way to make sure I don’t just go to sleep! By the time we reached the top it was snowing and as we walked down through the fir trees it was a Winter Wonderland and quite an experience for Brodie. Later, when Brodie spoke to her parents in Australia, where it was 40 degrees C, they had already seen her on the Christleton Website. I gather her Mum was soon in e-mail correspondence with Richard and she sent us one in which she wrote:- "I wanted to say how impressed we were with the Christleton Website – it was great to be able to look at the photos of Christmas Eve 2000 and the winter snow photos - made us feel almost as if we were there too. What a beautiful part of England you live in! We were also very interested to read about the happenings at St James’ and the Village."
Well, I want to join Brodie’s Mum in thanking Richard for our excellent Christleton website. Just as a reminder, if you have not already visited it, it is www.christleton.org.uk. Don’t ask me how Richard does it or how it works – it’s well beyond me! But I am sure those who have visited the site will agree that it is an excellent resource not only for St James but for the whole Parish. If you have not seen the picture of snow falling round St James in evening light persuade someone to show you! The fact that Brodie’s Mum could see her at Carols Round the Tree by Christmas Day is an indication of Richard’s commitment. The fact that Richard now links the website with this magazine means the possibilities are endless to keep in touch, not only here in Christleton, but with friends all over the world. So let’s make sure we make the most of these opportunities and use them imaginatively.
When I use the computer I am all too conscious of my limitations. I can use it in specific, small areas but that is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of its total capacity. I have not got a clue how it works or how I can type in an e-mail and at the click of a button it is received in Australia or wherever. There is something quite exciting, however, as you begin to realise its possibilities and ‘tune in’ to them. Perhaps we can take a message from all this for our spiritual life. Centuries before computers were thought of, prayer was a reality. St Paul wrote to the Romans:- "In the same way the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness. We do not even know how to pray but through our inarticulate groans the Spirit himself is pleading for us, and God, who searches our inmost being, knows what the Spirit means." (Romans 8:26f) To many people prayer and the life of the Spirit is a closed book just as computers are to many in a different way. But you don’t have to be an expert to try and to ‘log on’. If we start we shall find the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness and we shall gradually become more confident and experience wider opportunities. Once we are ‘in touch’ with God and through him with each other, we shall find the truth of other words of St. Paul:- "When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world; the old order has gone, and a new order has already begun." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Yours sincerely
