Author Archives: office
Bishop Michael Writes…..
Bringing hope into the world
“A leader” said Napoleon Bonaparte, “is a dealer in hope.” At the start of 2025, this is a tough challenge for leaders everywhere! Conflicts continue around the world. The climate emergency is ongoing. At the polls, voters in many countries express their dissatisfaction with the status quo. As we look around us, can hope mean anything more than mere wishful thinking? As we look on all the challenges that exist, have we anything more to say than “I hope that that somehow, somewhere, something will turn up”.
More than ever, the Christian understanding of hope is what we need. Christian hope is broader, deeper, stronger altogether than any ‘wishful thinking’. In scripture, hope is not just a vague desire that something good in the future will somehow happen. Rather, the Biblical understanding of hope is of a confident expectation and desire that good in the future will come. It’s an assurance based in our pre-existing experience of God’s goodness, God’s love, the faithfulness that he has already shown towards us.
Scripture also contains the idea that while hope is something which comes primarily from God, it is also something in which human beings have a part to play, a contribution to make. The letter to the Hebrews says this: “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.” (Hebrews 6:10-11)
God graciously calls us to join in bringing hope into the world. Our
work, our love, our diligence matter. The contribution we make is important in bringing into being the future that God wants for us. At the start of this new year, we are called to take the lead: to be signs, symbols, dealers in the hope for which our world longs today.
Rt Revd Michael Beasley,
Bishop of Bath and Wells
Meditation
What is Christian Meditation??
The meditation begins with a short reading followed by twenty minutes of silent contemplative prayer, also known as meditation.
We meet every Thursday at 7pm in St. Mary’s Church
(entry by the Priest’s Door or by arrangement))
Our meetings are open to all, you do not need
to be a member of St. Mary’s Church.
If you would like to join us please let me know in order that I may keep you updated regarding venue.
If you have no experience of Christian meditation or you would like to discuss anything about this please feel free to contact me. Meanwhile I look forward to welcoming you at our meetings.
Robin Bailey,
Nick Writes ………
I’m sure by now I have had the chance to wish most of you a Happy Year! But just in case Shanah Tovah!
This is the typical Hebrew greeting that the Jewish community offer each other at New Year, which translates as “Good Year”.
As we know Jesus, a faithful Jew, would have actually spoken Aramaic. Aramaic is a language closely related to Hebrew, and as such Shanah Tovah is the closest approximation to what He might have said.
But reflecting on this I was led to think that New Years don’t just happen on the 1st January. Indeed, the Jewish new “Rosh Hashanah” is celebrated between 22nd-24th September 2025.
In this way, our Anglican church year ends with Christ The King, and begins on the first Sunday of Advent on around 1st December.
And last year our visit to New York coincided with Chinese New Year on 10th February, when we were lucky to witness the wonderful lantern festivals and dragon parades.
But “New Years” also come in the world of work.
If you work in finance, and particularly tax, the start of the year is around 5th April.
And personally, I’ve always struggled with 1st January, as the start of the year. This is because from 5 years old I was in school either as a pupil or teacher, consequently the 1st September has always been my “new year”.
In this way we might reflect that “New Years” actually happen constantly throughout the year, and are moments of change, when we transition from the old to the new.
Of course, Jesus Himself was a new beginning, and a transition from the old to the new (and I don’t mean the Testaments here). Jesus came to bring new life, as Paul reminds us in Romans 6, through His death and resurrection
“Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life”
And we attest to this through Baptism and Confirmation, and each Sunday as we reaffirm through our Confession, Creed and the Eucharist, our commitment to follow Christ.
But also in His ministry, Jesus preached new beginnings and offered new life to those He met. In fact, the Gospels are littered with stories about people who encountered Jesus, and transformed from an old way of living to new one. One of my favourites is the tale of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector in Luke 19. I’ll leave you to read this for yourself, but it is a wonderful illustration of how change can come at any time, and in unexpected places, leaving us transformed, and changed for the better.
So as we move into the new year, and continue our journey with Jesus, let us too be open to unexpected change that will transform us, and our church for the better. Knowing as Jeremiah spoke that God has a plan for us to prosper, and just like Zacchaeus, through faith God has give us all we need for this coming year (whenever it starts or finishes!!!).
So may I end with the rather lovely, and slightly longer Hebrew New Year greeting, that I’m sure Jesus would have used to his own friends and family, and literally means “may you have a good and sweet new year.”
Shanah tovah umtukah