Last weekend was certainly an inspirational weekend, firstly with the Grand Slam Ladies Final in which Emma Raducunu and Leylah Fernandes went head-to-head in a stunning and exhilarating match. Both girls serving as wonderful ambassadors for their respective countries. What talent……yet it was more than talent it was an innate gift possessed by both girls who did not leave it at that but were prepared to put in hours of practise to reach their goal.

I am writing this letter to you following our Circuit Staff Meeting this morning when Matt Barrick our Circuit Youth Worker led the devotions taking the theme of ‘New Beginnings’. He told us about his daughter who had just started her first day of school. A new beginning for her and the family….

We all need hope. We all need to know that it will be ok in the end. Hope isn’t though about wishful thinking. The hope God gives us is a confidence in the future based upon our present experience of his love. We need to pay attention to the present and to know God at work in our lives. We do this individually but also as community.

As Christian people, I believe that God calls us to be holy risk takers, to try new things to step out in faith and to follow the call of God on our lives as individuals and as collective worshipping communities.

You will all know the feeling of a day going pear-shaped! We can make all the plans we want but sometimes, a phone call, email, letter or text can completely scupper our plans and, instead, we find ourselves muddling through the day.

You may well have been deeply disturbed by the news this week — not about Covid this time! On Monday the UN Panel on Climate Change issued its starkest warning yet about the drastic effects of global heating and the urgent need for all countries to rapidly reduce their inputs of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We are already seeing these effects on our TV screen as fires ravage Greece and floods increase around the world.

Have you have watched the Olympic games over the last week or so?

Did you know that the original Olympic Games, staged in Olympia ran from 776 BC through till 392 AD and was held, like today, every four years in conjunction with a festival to honour the Greek god, Zeus?