I cannot believe that for the fourth year I am wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The time seems to have flown by so quickly since I arrived here in the spring of 2012. During that time some things have changed and some things have remained the same.

The most significant change was the unifying of our parishes into one in October 2012 bringing our Churches together as one big family along with the merging of the three separate PCCs. Since then we have enjoyed occasional services together and have slowly been seeking to do God’s will in our villages.

For the first time on the 27th of December St Luke’s Church Baldwin will host our main parish-wide service and I hope lots of you will feel called to come up to St Luke’s the Sunday after Christmas for that occasion.

Celebrating Sundays and festivals are the constants that we continue to enjoy. Each of our three Churches has a regular Sunday service and we also mark the major occasions of the Church year in each of our places of worship.

Celebrating Christmas, having observed due preparations in Advent, is a way of joining ourselves with the eternal praise of God and maintaining our Christian presence in each village community.

It is a privilege to hear again of the birth of God’s son and anticipate His coming again in glory. There are so many add-ons’ to Christmas these days that we need to remain focused upon the real reason for our celebrations. I hope all those who will receive the Real Advent Calendars will get pleasure and spiritual nourishment from them, especially as these calendars put Christ firmly back into this season.

It is a wondrous and awe inspiring fact that God is relying on us to keep his message alive, “God so loved the world that he gave his only son that we might have eternal life”. (John 3; 16).

Whatever you are doing over Christmas and New year may God bless you and keep you safe.

Rev Janice Ward.