Thought for the Week

4^th January 2026

I have enjoyed a lovely Christmas season with family here. (Charlotte’s photos of our family in Australia and their Australian Christmas – bright and sunny and lots of backyard cricket were lovely to see.) I hope you have made many happy memories over these days. 

The time with the grandchildren was precious and it is fascinating getting to know them. The older two know me, recognise me, are happy to play with me. The baby just looked at me and did what babies do – peer intently, cry, feed, sleep – and I still say she smiled at me! 😉 – but mostly I held her and talked to her and patted her. (A lovely Christmas present indeed! J ) But my granddaughter of nearly 14 months was the one who ‘got to know me’ this Christmas. She’s walking pretty steadily and likes music books (books that play music on each page – who knew about these inventions?! 😉 ) – and she knows what to press – but over my time with her she got to know me in that every time she saw me, she’d smile and say ‘Pa’ and occasionally she’d ‘blow me a kiss’. When I left her home, I was told she’d look for me. When I met her two days later and then the day after, our ‘connection’ grew. No matter what I was wearing she recognised me and I’d hear ‘Pa … Pa’ and sometimes I received a blown kiss. Yes, such moments are very special.

I’d like such moments to continue but I suspect my children would prefer me not to move in with them! And grandparents are supposed to come and go. But relationships are all about time and connection and I also think patterns and rituals are important – maybe the same words for a greeting, that book you always read, the prayer said, an action – a wave, a wink, a smile – it doesn’t really matter what makes the moment, the relationship, incarnational! 

At this time of the year the new year resolutions are in vogue – classically that going-to-the-gym-getting-fitter-lose-weight one gets a workout – but there are many more – calling us to do something important. Of course I could go on about diet, mental health, reconciliation, a balanced lifestyle – I’m sure we can all find things to do so 2026 is better in some way. But since this is my congregational bulletin ‘blurb’ I am going to encourage myself and you to find your time with God – when you listen to him (read his Word), when you reflect on your identity and who you are before him (go over your Small Catechism), and when you pray – each day – and also plan and prioritise time to worship because that is not you doing something for God but God coming and serving you! Our spiritual relationship – our faith – involves time (which can and probably should change over time because our lives change), connection, patterns, and rituals – not to turn us into robots but so that we learn to live each moment with our Triune God who has done so much for us. Saying all this is not so much a matter of feeling guilty for the stop – start of our devotional life but an encouragement to keep starting (!) and receiving the warm embrace of God in Christ Jesus – of knowing that his first words to us are “I love you” and then wanting to hear more and say more about what is happening in our life – what a relationship to have each day!

GS