Message from Canon Kristian

Dear brothers and sisters

As the Christmas Season draws to a close this Sunday with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we move into a short period of so-called liturgical “Ordinary Time” – a rather infelicitous translation into English of the Latin “per annum”.  There is nothing “ordinary” about this part of our year.  It is marked by those Sundays that enable us to once again review and renew our following of Christ by reflecting on the ministry and life of Jesus as portrayed to us through the inspired eyes of a particular Evangelist who, in Year C, is St Luke.  His Gospel is characterised by its emphasis on the divine realities of mercy, forgiveness, healing and compassion, its focus of the centrality of God’s concern for the poor and outcast –  the “anawim”, the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, the importance of women both as disciples of Jesus and as participants in salvation history like his mother, Mary, and prayer.

As Luke comes from the Gentile, non-Jewish, world and is reputed to have been a physician by profession, his Gospel abounds with a sense of the universality and inclusivity of the Reign of God inaugurated through the ministry and paschal mystery of Christ and with the healing and wholeness that is on offer to those who know their need of God.  Some of the parables of Jesus that are most familiar to us and beloved of the Christian community, and which speak most profoundly of the attributes and nature of the God we believe in, are only found in St Luke’s Gospel, such as the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:30-37), the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32), , the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31) and the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Lk 18:9-14).  So, in preparation for this next part of our year, I encourage you to familiarise yourself once again with the Gospel of St Luke, and to engage with openness and excitement with the Word that we will hear proclaimed, as we journey together with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem with Luke as our guide!

By way of reminder, from 18-25 January we celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity across the Christian family.  This year the daily prayer and meditations of the Week of Prayer have been produced by the Christians of the Middle East and they have chosen as the theme “We saw his star in the East…”.  These materials will no longer be produced in printed format, but they can be accessed and downloaded for free from https://cte.org.uk/wpcu2022/.  The Churches and Christians of the Middle East have suffered for centuries and this continues unabated into our own day.  There is even the extremely sad prospect of the complete eradication of a native Christian presence in the lands of the Bible in the not-too-distant future if efforts are not made to stop the persecution and suppression of these communities, some of which date from the first century of the Church.  I encourage all of you to take part in the Week of Prayer, even if it is only by following the daily reflections personally.  I have also included in the Newsletter this week one interesting initiative being proposed to the whole Christian family for 2022  – the Hospitality Pledge (https://hospitalitypledge.org/)  – which is in response to the challenges and often harsh reality of the times we are living through socially, politically and globally.  This pledge of both practical and potentially life-changing for the “giver” as much as for the “receiver”.

Along with the Newsletter, I also attach the guide to prayer on the Sunday Gospel by Monika Manser, issue no.11 of Inspire by Deacon Peter, and the January Newsletter of Plymouth Caritas.

We do have a few parishioners suffering from Covid at this time, so please do keep them and all those who are sick and vulnerable in your prayers.

May God bless you all

Canon Kristian