Do not seek your own advantage, but that of others (1 Corinthians 10.24)

Dear Friends

As the days lengthen and maybe it’s getting a little warmer and some spring flowers are starting to peek through, I always think this is a hopeful time of year. In the Church, the season of Lent approaches (Ash Wednesday is on 22 February this year), and we try to find special time to think and pray about our spiritual life.

At this time in 2011, we were well into our Year of Discipleship, which helped us to think about God’s call to each one of us, and our personal response. It ended with a sending out, a call to mission.

This year, the local Church of England is focusing on a key aspect of discipleship: how we welcome others. On Thursday 23 February, at Goudhurst parish church at 7.30pm, Bishop Trevor launches a series of special weekly Lenten reflections for our deanery of The Weald, which will help us to think and act on the theme of welcome.

We’ll also be running a special Lent group in the benefice, at Sandhurst Mission Church, on the theme ‘Finding Welcome’ – look out for more details on our weekly notices.

Everyone is very welcome to any of these events – for being a Christian, or simply being a member of a ‘good community’, means that we commit ourselves to putting others first.

Why? Because God welcomes us with open arms, and we in turn are called to welcome others in our midst. This is not pious sentiment, but radical mission in action, strategy for a healthy and humane community. It impacts not just on the church, but on the community as a whole – the use of resources, the public provision of welfare, education and all the services people need, but most important in the quality of life we experience in our daily contact with neighbours and strangers alike.

Local churches offer a welcoming, public space in which these issues can be discussed. The Christian faith – embodied in Jesus himself – is about an unconditional welcome and challenge to renewal and transformation. Sometimes it’s sudden and spectacular, sometime it’s very gradual and tentative, like those first signs of springtime light and warmth. But it’s a hope and challenge we all need and in which we can all share!

Yours in Christ

Charles Hill
Priest in Charge