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Vicar's update

March 2021

Revd Beverly WatsonMarch 2021 is a very special month for me and our family, as we wait in hope for our first grandchild to arrive towards the end of the month. It feels quite a long time now since we first heard the news, back in September last year, and we’re very excited that the big day is drawing close. Despite lockdowns – or perhaps due to lockdowns – we’ve seen quite a lot of Hannah and Peter over the past year, as they’ve stayed with us at Willow Grange for four to five months altogether. It’s been a privilege to be with them during very significant times in their lives.

And so we wait in hope for this precious child to arrive. In some ways it mirrors all our longings, I’m sure, for this final lockdown to end, and for a new life to emerge once again. Now that many of the most vulnerable members of our society have had the Covid vaccine, that new way of life is starting to come; people in ‘bubbles’ are feeling more secure about visiting each other; hope is on the horizon.

And that’s true in the Church’s year as well. Lent is always a season of simplicity, of self-denial, of reflection; and that’s been imposed upon on us by Covid this year, in a way we wouldn’t have chosen. But I think that can be a gift to us this month, if we’re willing to embrace this time – as a preparation for all that’s to come. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness; an isolation and time of deprivation he wouldn’t have chosen. Yet he came out of it stronger, and ready to embrace the new life and ministry that lay ahead. I’m sure that during his time in the wilderness Jesus was ‘waiting in hope’ for his new life to emerge.

So this March, I pray that we’ll be able to wait in hope for all that is to come: the joy of life opening up again, and being able to meet each other face to face; the joy of Easter, with its message of resurrection – the truth that no situation is ultimately hopeless, within the love and mercy and grace of God. Let’s wait together hopefully through this month of March, as spring reminds us of the new life that’s on its way. Let’s pray and support each other through challenging times. And I pray we’ll know the greatest of joys when new life comes – both our first grandchild, and all that you long for in the season ahead.

 

Revd Beverly Watson

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