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Letter from the Vicar - January 2006

A New Year – and I wonder how many of us will have made resolutions and actually managed to keep them beyond the first day or two?!
Making resolutions isn’t a bad thing – it can be a bit of fun, something we know we’ll never really do – like promising to be more prepared for Christmas next year! It can be half serious – something we sort of want to do – like get fitter – but probably admit it won’t last. If we’re serious about something, it can of course leave us with a sense of disappointment when we fail (again). But that shouldn’t stop us from pausing for a few moments to reflect on our lives. Is there something we would like to change – and could change, if only we resolved to do so? Is there something we want to commit to – but haven’t yet succeeded in doing so?

Within a Christian context, many of us have at some point in our lives made a resolution – or commitment - to follow Christ. It may be that we know exactly when we made that commitment. It may be that our resolution was more of a process over a period of time. However it happened, most of us who call ourselves Christians would recognise that we haven’t fully succeeded in keeping to it. But like any other serious resolution that’s worth making, it’s important that failure doesn’t mean that we give up. God doesn’t give up on us. We can always start again.

We will soon be starting confirmation classes. Confirmation is an opportunity to make public our resolution to try to follow Christ. A declaration in public can be a helpful way of strengthening our resolve – a bit like marriage vows. It may be that you come to church but have never been confirmed – and would now like the opportunity of saying publicly “Yes, I believe in God. I want to try to follow Christ.” It may be that you used to go to church or believe in God, but for any number of reasons have stopped coming or aren’t sure what you now believe. Perhaps coming to confirmation classes might be a way of rediscovering what believing is all about – even if you are already confirmed or at the end you don’t get confirmed. The classes will cover the basics of Christian faith – with plenty of opportunity for questions. Age doesn’t matter – teenagers and adults are all welcome.

Resolutions aren’t easy to make. But they’re often worth it. So do let me know if you would like to know more about confirmation classes – or simply about resolving to follow Christ.

With my prayers,
Jeanette
vicar@thepelhams.net