I don't know how you are feeling about 2012. Maybe it feels like it will be full of change? This coming Sunday will mark a change that has already taken place in the life of m2o, the move for many down to St Oswald's. But it will also close the door on St Matthew's forever as we formally close one old place of worship and rededicate St. Oswald's as St. Matthew & St. Oswald, the new.
For many people Sunday's services will be a significant and maybe even a sad moment: few of us like change and we have had many changes to cope with as a fellowship in the last few years.
As well as looking back and formalizing changes that have already taken place, we are anticipating further changes in the year ahead. The purchase of the St Oswald's Vicarage and it's conversion into new church offices and rooms for our children's work. Even though these things have many positive spin offs, the process of change is unsettling. Not in the least because we are made to look round at the place where we have grown comfortable and ask ourselves 'what do we really need to be effective in this parish?'
The phrase I want to give you today is not actually one of Paul's as the others have been this week. Instead, it comes from the book of Hebrews, for which the author is unknown.
'We have this hope as an anchor for the soul' Hebrews 6:19 [TNIV]
It's good to remind ourselves that the anchor for our soul, the 'thing' that steadies our spiritual lives, is not a place nor a building, but a person. Jesus who is the 'same, yesterday, today, forever' is the anchor for our lives. When everything else changes around us, his love remains the same.
'Father, help me today if I feel I'm drifting hopelessly. Help me to know that I have you providing me with hope as an anchor, holding me steady even when the things around me change. Help me to face the discomfort and upheaval of change, trusting in the fact that you have promised that you have good plans for me. Amen'
Sheila Bridge
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