Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
The beginning of a New Year is often a time for taking stock of where we are in our lives. When we take stock we can either say "well, that's life" and rationalise everything that happens to us and talk about "fate", or we can reflect more deeply about why things happen to us and how we should respond to them.
In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willie Loman found a way to justify everything he did. He refused to be concerned when his children got into trouble by their lying and stealing. He concluded, "It's no big deal. After all, that's what politicians do all the time." Eventually though Willie was fired from his job, and as a result he committed suicide. Rationalisation led to disaster.
The famous physician and author of the "Dr Finlay" novels, A. J. Cronin, took the opposite path. Born in Cardross, Scotland, Cronin was the only child of a Catholic father and a Protestant mother. He was a precocious student at Dumbarton Academy and won many writing competitions. Due to his exceptional abilities, he was awarded a scholarship to study medicine at the University of Glasgow. It was there that he met his future wife, Agnes Mary Gibson, who was also a medical student.
Cronin trained as a doctor in various hospitals before serving as a Royal Navy surgeon during World War I. After the war he set up a practice in a mining area of South Wales and was appointed Medical Inspector of Mines.
In his autobiography he tells how he came to see that his own wisdom and resources were totally inadequate to meet his deepest spiritual needs. He finally surrendered his heart to Christ, or as he put it, to "the inexorable appeal of the Cross." Of his experience Cronin said, "I had made the immense discovery of why I was alive."
The Bible tells us: "Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:4/5)
I believe God wants to help us get the most of out of life, to fulfil our true potential and make the best of our lives. That is why he came into the world in the form of his son Jesus Christ, in order to help us find that true fulfilment, through a loving and close relationship with him.
So, as we begin a new year, let us not be fatalistic, let us not shrug our shoulders and stagger on in the same old way. Why not consider allowing God to work in your life, to shape and guide the way you react and deal with the challenges this new year will bring. You never know - you might be in for a pleasant surprise!
I wish you all a very happy new year.