Christmas 2024

Happy New Year, everyone!

What a busy Christmas we’ve had at Radcliffe Methodist Church, with carol and Christingle services, a scratch nativity, a time of reflective worship and, of course, our Christmas morning celebration. To top off our Christmas worship we had the Chair of District, Rev’d Andy Fyall lead our united service on the Sunday after Christmas, where we welcomed friends from around the circuit and our ecumenical partner St Mary’s.

Organising the Scratch Nativity was great fun for I had no idea how many budding thespians we had among us! Many thanks go to Rick and Jan who stepped in as Mary and Joseph at the last minute, and to all the cast for taking part. As scratch nativities are completely unrehearsed, they are a great way of worshipping for not only do they remind us of the Christmas story they also demonstrate its evolving nature. At the first Christmas, Mary and Joseph, and indeed all the visitors to the stable, had no idea as to what to was going to happen next. In a similar way, our journeys of faith can be equally surprising for God may break unexpectedly into our lives with words of peace and challenge.

The Christmas Eve reflective service was a blessing to me, and I hope also to you. In a hectic time with much to do, being able to take a quiet moment with God matters. The service made space for all whose life has been tough this year to marvel at God’s incarnation without needing to be wildly joyful and energetic. God wants us to be honest with him. I offered three meditations. One was based on Micah’s understanding of the prophecy he offered regarding Bethlehem as the Messiah’s future birth place. The other two reflected the Mary’s highs and lows as she experienced pregnancy and gave birth to Jesus, the saviour of the world. 

Our first time of worship in 2025 was the annual Covenant Service, where we committed ourselves, once again, to a life of serving God. We accepted God’s abundant forgiveness for the times we have failed to put God first in our lives and received God’s renewing grace to live for God in the coming year. In response to God’s abounding love and in God’s strength, we made our covenant by declaring together:

          I am no longer my own but yours.

          Your will, not mine, be done in all things,

                    wherever you may place me,

                    in all that I do and in all that I may endure;

                    when there is work for me and when there is none;

                    when I am troubled and when I am at peace.

          Your will be done

                    when I am valued and when I am disregarded;

                              when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking;

                    when I have all things and when I have nothing.

          I willingly offer all that I have and am to serve you as and where you choose.

           Glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

          You are mine and I am yours.

          May it be so forever.

          Let this covenant now made on earth be fulfilled in heaven.

          Amen.

Let us, in the power of God and as best we are able, may this our prayer for 2025.

Revd. Naomi