This is the time for New Year resolutions. The trouble is that we are all so full of good intentions, but all too often the resolutions do not survive long into the New Year! Once they have been broken, they tend to be forgotten. Perhaps the Church’s year can help us in this. In January the Church’s year reminds us not of what we resolve but of what we receive. Epiphany means ‘manifestation’ or revelation. It is so easy to put Christmas away with the decorations for another year. But, like the presents we receive, the real value of Christmas, is when we unwrap it to use throughout the year. Epiphany is the ‘unwrapping’ of God’s gift of his son to us. Through the gifts of the Wise Men, Jesus is shown to be not just a baby in a manger, but our king to follow all the year through; our God to worship every day of our life and as sacrifice to save us from our own failures and inadequacies. Jesus’ baptism revealed him as God’s Son, the Saviour, who has immersed himself in our human condition to get alongside us to help us. This means that as we resolve to do better in 2002, we do not just rely on our own strength and will power. Before we do that we receive the gift of God’s Son to come alongside us as an example to follow; as a purpose to value and as a strength to fall back on. So we have our resolutions, but recognising that we do not rely on our own strength and resolve alone to achieve them. When we fail, we do not have to give up. We know that in Jesus, God gives us a new start fresh each day. He forgives us as we turn to him and helps us ‘to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and start all over again’.

In January we have our United Village Service on Sunday 6th, which is Epiphany. We also have our Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from 18 – 25 (see diary for details). Unity is something we receive, rather than achieve. Jesus came to break down all barriers between us and God and between each other. You don’t need me to tell you that we need that at the start of this New Year as much as ever. That is why it is so important to come together to pray for unity. It is not a question of resolving to achieve unity but of praying to receive unity. The message of the carol needs to be taken into the New Year:-

“and man, at war with man, hears not
the love song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
and hear the angels sing.”

Christingle is always a special service. This year it is at 6.30 pm on Sunday 13 January. Again the symbolism reminds us of what we receive. The orange, the four candlesticks and the fruits remind us of the beautiful world God has created for us to live in, with the fruits of the earth in their season. The candle, fixed into the orange, reminds us that Jesus came into the world as the light of the world, giving warmth and guidance. The red ribbon round the orange, reminds us of Christ’s blood shed for the whole world, to bring us together and to bring us to God. To see St James, full of people, with the candles lighting the faces of the children, can give us a glimpse of the wonder of God’s world, and help us to resolve to make life special through the year.

As I wish you all a very happy New Year, I pray that we may all so receive all that God has given us, that as we resolve to make the world a better place, we can say together “with the help of God, we will.”

Yours sincerely