Dear friends,

Imagine the scene… You come to Church as normal one ordinary Sunday morning.  You come into the building and notice that all the chairs have been taken away.  There's just a big empty space.  Someone on duty at the door brings a chair towards you and asks politely, "Where would you like your chair put?  You can sit anywhere you please."  Where would you put your chair?  In the same place you always sit - or somewhere different? 

Imagine a similar scene, only this time as you enter the Church, with the door-duty person carrying your chair for you, you notice that someone has arrived before you - you're not the first.  This person is someone you have seen a few times in Church but have never had any reason to speak to; you don't know anything about this person - not even a name.  Now where are you going to have the chair put?  Will it be next to this other person, giving you an ideal opportunity to get to know someone new, or will it be somewhere else, hoping that person won't notice you ignoring them?

The beginning of a new year is a good opportunity to try out something new.  Some of us make resolutions, others of us just try to make a bit of an effort to change the way we live our lives.  What about our lives as Christians, within and outside of the Church building?  Imagine the scene as you enter the Church and see another solitary chair in place.  Who would be sitting on the chair to cause you to want to go and sit next to them?  Who, or even what kind of person, would be sitting on the chair that might make even you want to delay going into Church?

As we begin the year with each other and with God, remember Jesus came into the world because of us and despite us.  There wasn't a single person on the face of the earth that made him not want to come down to earth from heaven.  That's the meaning of the phrase, "God so loved the world."  If this is how God loved us, then this is how we must love one another.
"Happy New Year!"… or will it be "Complacent more of the same old year as before"? God gives each of us the choice.

Best wishes,