Newsletter 171220
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Today's news that so many of the country will be spending Christmas in tier 3, along with a new strain of coronavirus that's spreading more quickly, will be making us question the plans we had for seeing friends and relatives over Christmas. Not really the news we were hoping for - and between Covid, the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolboys, and no-deal Brexits, things are a bit glum right now.The Christmas promise of Jesus being born into this troubled earth is all the more poignant and needed. At our Sunday services and Connect evening, we've heard about John the Baptist, who described himself as 'a voice crying out in the wilderness.'Listening to the news can leave us feeling a bit like we're in something of a desolate wilderness at the moment! So it's interesting to take a closer look at Isaiah 40:3, that John quoted. There we read, 'A voice of one calling, "in the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord... and the glory of the Lord will be revealed." Note that it is in the wilderness that God is doing the preparation - and it's so that more of his glory might be seen.This time is challenging for us all in different ways. So I've decided to start looking out for signs of God's preparing work in this Covid wilderness. It doesn't take away the challenges. But the signs of God at work are there - subtle, not as I'd maybe like or expect, but glimpses, flashes of His glory nonetheless, as I'm opening up more to the possiblity that God is at work in this wilderness.I'm praying that we all might catch more glimpses of God's subtle work - and I wonder how that looks for you? For us as a church family? For the community of Valley Park?
