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Ann Yates writes the Pastoral Letter for
this issue

Dear Friends

I am writing this letter in October and The Link won’t be published
for some weeks. At the time I am writing wars are raging and there
is much suffering in our world. I pray, as we all do, that by the time
the December Link is printed reconciliation and compassion will
have spread across the globe.

As I write the leaves are beginning to fall and the roads and
pavements are carpeted with many colours. However, by the time
this letter is read the glories of autumn and rains of October will be
distant memories. Christmas preparations will be well underway
and we will be caught up in a whirl of activities. So much to do, lists
and lists of lists to write and cards to sign (unless, very sensibly
they were done in October). There will be presents to buy and wrap
and shopping to do. (Don’t forget the Brussels sprouts.) There will,
of course, be parties, lunches and concerts to attend and the house
and Church to be decorated.

The Christmas season seems to start earlier each year and it
becomes stressful and tiring until on the 25th of December with
children occupied, presents unwrapped and full of dinner we
collapse on the sofa and sleep. Well a lot of people do!

But we know that at the heart of Christmas there are special gifts.
The gift of friendship as we work together, maybe decorating our
Church, packing gift boxes or presenting concerts and festivals.
The gift of joy as we reach out to the lonely and isolated, the gift of
sharing as we remember those less fortunate than ourselves, and
the gift of happiness as we meet with old friends and new. We
should also give ourselves a special gift, quiet times to reflect and
to pray as we remember that at Christmas time we received, in the
birth of Jesus, the greatest gift of all.

The New Year will soon be with us and inevitably we look back at
2023, very aware that sadness and grief have engulfed so many.

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