10. Oct, 2019

Ros's October letter

This month is a busy month for us as a fellowship.  We have our Away Day & our Church Anniversary, as special events.  But of course the routines of church life will carry on as usual.  

We will find ourselves looking back & remembering the history of the church & what has contributed to making us the fellowship we are today.  This links in with a theme that has been constantly on my mind over the Summer – that of thanksgiving.  It is very relevant to us at this time of year, having recently celebrated Harvest.  It is so easy to focus on the negatives whilst overlooking the positives.  But thanksgiving causes us to focus on the things that we appreciate & want to thank God for.

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.  (1 Corinthians 1:4)

We will also find ourselves focussing on the present, on who we are as God’s people here in Swanwick today.  As I have pondered this over the summer, I have been encouraged.  Yes, I acknowledge that we have many issues to resolve & mountains to overcome, but I can see God at work & that always encourages me. Although we may be small in number, we are a team pulling together.  We cannot ignore the difficulties that we face but, & it is a big BUT, God doesn’t appear to have given up on us, so we shouldn’t be disheartened.  This does not mean that we are to bury our heads in the sand for we need to be real & realistic & recognise the difficulties we face, but we must ensure that we do not focus on the difficulties without honouring the positives.  Yes, I know that I’m naturally an optimist & some of you are pessimists but we need both to bring a balance.  We need those of you that want to keep us grounded in reality & we need the dreamers who wander off on flights of fancy seeing possibilities that may seem to be in cloud cuckoo land. 

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  (Colossians 2:6-7)

This brings me to the 3rd focus, that of the future.  Whilst there is something relatively concrete about the past & the present, the future is unknown & therefore uncertain.  The only certainty is that God will be with us in the future as we put our trust in Him.  He can be trusted & relied upon. Whatever God has promised we know He can & will do it! 

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. (2 Thessalonians 1:11)                       

Love,  Ros