February may have rolled in under leaden skies, but there are signs of Spring all around us. The Snowdrops are in full flower, cheering us up no end and in sheltered places, early Daffodils are very close to blooming forth.
The month began with our celebrations of Candlemas, and we are fortunate in that we have contributions by both Fr. Gareth Ingham and Christopher Jobson on this Principal Feast in the Church calendar. Before long, we will be turning our focus towards Shrove Tuesday, Lent and Ash Wednesday. With Easter falling early this year, the latter falls on the same day as St. Valentine so it will be a busy one. Although little is known about who he really is, we have included articles for you to ponder on.
Later in the month, we will be thinking about St. Matthias, the disciple who replaced Judas Iscariot and we will be including some posts which have been delayed, simply because of the busy schedule over the past few months. The first will be Richard Hooker (3rd November) the Church of England’s greatest theologian and a reflection on the beautiful hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth.
As always, there will be an article by our local Astronomer on the February night skies, reminding us that God’s creation is all around us. Our regular content regarding the Lighter Side of Life will also be there: puzzles, Children’s Corner and the gently humorous Uncle Eustace (the fictional Priest of the fictional St. James the Least of All) who this month reflects on something very dear to our hearts in old rural churches; dealing with the cold during Services! There will also be reports from around the Benefice.
Our Priest-in-Charge, Fr. Gareth Ingham will continue to give us much to think about with his reflections and Christopher Jobson has much to enlighten us with, with his historical and theological posts.
Finally, we would like to draw your attention to some recent updates to the on The Messenger:
- firstly, if you wish to contact, in confidence, Fr. Gareth Ingham, Priest in Charge, all his contact details are detailed under the Contact Us tab
- secondly, instead of using Google calendar, we now the Combined Benefice Service Rota available to view, download and print by clicking the box on the home page
- finally, Life Events affect us all at some point in our lives. As well as general guidance from the Church of England, you can now contact Fr. Gareth directly, and in confidence, by going to the Life Events tab and completing a simple form.
As we sign-off, we thank you all for taking the time to look at The Messenger, our Benefice website and offer our heartiest thanks to all our contributors.
With our Warmest Wishes,
Valerie Cartlidge
Meres & Meadows Messenger
Feature Image: Snowdrops, WikiCommons, PD