Message from our Missional Leader – Alan Buckley

Dear friends
I am sure that each one of us has been touched by the recent Jubilee of
our Queen Elizabeth in some way or another. It was a once in a lifetime
occasion to celebrate a monarch’s extraordinary reign of seventy years.
Our verse for the summer is “Be still and know that I am God”. Summer
is usually a time when activities and events in church take a back seat,
and we can enjoy a time of rest and relaxation. But quite often, we find
ourselves so embroiled in different activities that we find it hard to relax.
But taking time to draw aside from the regular business we have been
engaged in is essential for health and wellbeing. Having that holiday or
short break is so important after the two years’ restrictions brought about
by the pandemic.
God wants us to draw aside, to take time out, so that He can draw near
to us, and we to him. That is why our verse is so relevant this
summertime as we take time out. We need to focus on God and what he
wants to say to us, cast off the desire to be busy, but let go and spend
time alone in prayer with God. Any time spent listening and praying with
God this summer will be a blessing both to ourselves and also to others,
as we prepare to go into the autumn, and the restarting of activities. So
let us use the time profitably this summer by making time for God
May God bless you all.

Alan Buckley, Lay Minister