September 2025
Dear Friends
My summer holiday seems a long way off now back at the beginning of July; but I spent it with some of my family in a cottage in Cornwall. I’d not been to Cornwall for quite a few years and it was lovely to be back there. It was the space I needed to relax and unwind. We spent a lot of time walking along beaches, paddling in the sea or just sitting looking out at the sea - some of my favourite pastimes, I love being near the sea. But we also spent a lot of time laughing; joy comes from meeting with your loved ones and settling into a sense of contentment as you spend time with them. I wonder what in life brings you joy? Maybe, like me, it’s the seaside that does it for you, watching and listening to the rhythm of the waves breaking on the shore or perhaps it’s out walking in the countryside or something else completely different. Joy can be found in so many things – a glorious sunset, a piece of music, an appreciation of art, in shared laughter, in knowing you are loved. You can no doubt add many things to the list.
I hope that each of us may also have a faith which brings us joy, knowing we are loved by God; a deep joy that may become our default setting as we grow in our relationship with God and begins to bubble up as a gift of rejoicing. Joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives.
As we continue into the next connexional year hopefully there will be much to look forward to in the life here at Linacre and in the circuit which we need to embrace and celebrate and look forward to where God is leading all of our churches for the future as we welcome Rev Darren Garfield as our new superintendent minister and his family into our circuit
Brian McLaren, a theologian and pastor wrote a book in 2014 called, ‘We make the road by walking’. He wrote the book to help individuals and groups to walk wisely into the future together and states
“I believe that all of us play a role in choosing and creating our futures - as individuals and as communities. We don’t need to wait passively for history to happen to us. We can become protagonists in our own story. We can make the road by walking.”
It’s a favourite quote of mine and I’ve used a number of times but I would like to think that we as a church here in Linacre and as a circuit, can make our own road by walking the path God has prepared for us by working together, by encouraging one another, by sharing with one another, listening to one another, laughing with one another and most of all, loving one another as we seek God’s mission for the future.
Every Blessing
Sue