I've been thinking a lot recently about the various strands of my studies and the common theme I could see overlaying them all. The major concentration this term at GDMC has been on Paul's Epistles to the various churches he founded and how he wrote from the heart about matters that he felt were important. The work of our Local Training Group has started. We will be working through our understanding of ministry, what we understand by it and how the church can best exercise it here in Elstead and Thursley by making use of the resources we have. I have also now received confirmation that my sector placement next term will be with the Chaplaincy department at the Royal Surrey County Hospital where I will spend a block of time "looking and learning" about a very specific area of caring.

What started the train of thought was a reflection on the nature and character of God. He is, by very nature, a missionary God. It's the very essence of God to reach out to the world in love. He did this through Jesus whose life, death and new life gave Christian faith its characteristic shape and goal. Jesus now works through his Body the Church to show the world the love of God. The baptized people of God are sent out to love and serve and offer the blessing of God in every area of human activity. As Christians we respond in gratitude to the grace which we have received through God's unconditional love in Christ. It takes such a hold on our lives that we reflect to others some of that same unconditional love.

Wherever there is a group of Christians there is a church community. It is the people that make the community. It is its words and deeds that are a vital expression of the unity of that community despite the diversity of its members. Jesus broke down the barriers between Jew and Gentile, slave and free man; it is what that community is together that is important.

Paul the Apostle understood this. Paul took great pains to explain to his Gentile churches that Jesus was for everyone. He wrote at length about the importance of the new communities. He encouraged them all to think about how they ordered their lives as a reaction to this love of God.

In the LTG we will be looking how our church serves (or ministers to) the people in our parish. I hope we will be asking ourselves what the needs are of our community, what resources we possess to respond to at least some of those needs and then knowing these how can we respond to the best of our abilities.

I don't know what I will find or what I will think about what I learn on my placement next year. In circumstances where life and death, pain and grief are ever present, what I think I will find in the RSCH Chaplaincy is that care in that community has, perhaps, one fundamental aim - to help people to know love, both as something to be received and as something to give, expressed in ways that can reach people in times of great emotional need and distress.

The thread that draws all these thoughts together is pastoral care. The way we reflect God's unconditional love for each of us will say something about our own faith. Someone once said that the church is the only organisation that exists for those who are not yet members. By our actions we can help people to glimpse something of the love which lies eternally in the heart of God.

By the time you read this, we will be in the season of Advent having celebrated Christ the King at the end of November. We're starting again the cycle of the Christian year. The traditional Christian notion, embedded in the New Testament, is its focus on our journey of love to God. The idea that Christians are on a journey of growth and exploration seems sometimes to have been lost in the busyness of our everyday lives. Celebrating Christ the King reminded us that salvation occurs wherever people practice the love he gave us. The season of Advent is about His coming; in the past in Bethlehem, in the future at the end of the world and now, through grace in our hearts. Advent is a time of preparation so that we are ready for a worthy and fruitful celebration of the Nativity. It is a time to anticipate "Joy to the world!" but also to remind ourselves that his Church exists to share that joy, love and hope with the whole wide world.