Christmas may feel like a very long time ago.
Indeed so long ago that you may struggle to recall the gifts that you received from family
and friends or indeed what gifts you were able to give to them. But I want to invite you very simply to remember those gifts and to remember all that they symbolized and all that they meant to you.
Over the coming weeks I'm going to be doing a series of short video reflections which can be used in church services online or indeed by individuals in their own homes but a series of reflections on the gifts that we've received and the gifts that we're able to offer to others. At this time when so many of us are experiencing loss and anxiety and grief I
think it's important that we remember the gifts that we've received and remind ourselves that even in these strangest of times there are still ways in which we can offer gifts to others as well.
So for us as Christians the foundational gift of course is Jesus Christ, God's gift to us. And He is the author and perfecter of our faith,
we seek to keep our eyes fixed on him whatever our circumstances.
That in itself fills us with gratitude which can overflow in our lives of service to others.
But of course the church itself is, in some sense, is a way of exchanging gifts we're all members of the body of Christ and as different parts of that body so we support and care for one another; each with different strengths each with different weaknesses.
And indeed the diocese exists to facilitate an exchange of gifts between different church communities in different contexts. Again we all have particular strengths as communities and we all have particular needs as communities and it's as we share our gifts and our needs
that we grow as the body of Christ. It's true as well in our service of others in our communities,
yes we have a most amazing gift to be able to offer to others as we share the love of God in Jesus Christ with others particularly through practical service.
But even as we do that we recognize that we have something to receive from others as well.
So I guess I'm inviting you, very simply, to count your blessings and in doing so to pray for you that the God of hope would fill you with all joy and peace in believing that your hope may overflow in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.