There’s no doubt about it, we are living in uncertain times.
Blaise Metreweli, the newly appointed head of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, said in her first major public speech on 15th December, “Let’s be in no doubt. Our world is more dangerous and contested now than it has been for decades. Conflict is evolving and trust eroding…” highlighting the broad shift in global security challenges.
New Challenges – New Opportunities
As we enter 2026, there will be new challenges, new opportunities and the usual ups and downs of life. What we should not do however, is live in fear. There is a lovely verse in the Bible that goes like this: “Perfect love casts out fear,” 1 John 4:18. It is in finding and dwelling in the secure love of God that we find security, hope, fulfilment and purpose. Without God in our lives, we live in a vacuum of hopelessness, insecurity and ultimately, despair because we are simply travelling into a black hole of nothingness. Wow! That’s heavy – but true.
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) was a scholar, literary critic, philosopher, and writer, and in his brilliant book “The Great Divorce,” in which he argues for the authenticity of the Bible and Christian faith, he says, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: Those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘thy will be done.’
2026 – A Year Of Light
You may remember that in October 2024, fifty of us gathered on Mill Hill, lit a bonfire and blew a shofar (ram’s horn) as we pronounced God’s blessing on Quainton and all the villages around us in preparation for 2025, a year of hope. We were following the ancient Biblical tradition of Jubilee – historically, God’s call to celebrate service, sharing, peace and hope. And last year that’s exactly what we tried to do in a variety of ways.
This new year of 2026, we are celebrating “A Year Of Light”, when we will explore ways of shining a light in the darkness of despair and hopelessness and find ways of bringing love, practical support and hope into the lives of the many people with whom we have contact day by day.
“You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” I profoundly disagree!
Will you join us? Some people say to me, ‘you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.’ I profoundly disagree. God never made us to be free lance Christians. We were made for community, or as the Bible describes it, to be ‘the body of Christ,’ part of the family of God. Christianity without church is like a Fish Out Of Water. A great album title by Chris Squire, bassist with one of my favourite bands, YES, but no way to nurture faith, grow in community and share the adventure of faith together.
May you know real blessing this year as you step out in faith.
God bless
Revd Steve