As you know, the Chinese name their years after an animal.  We're just finishing the Year of the Pig, and from February will be in the Year of the Rat.  This set me thinking: if we did the same in our church and parish, what animal would we be looking forward to in 2008?

My immediate thought was that this year will be the Year of the Ant. 

Emmanuel:  God with us

God with us amongst the ‘pots and pans'

and in the disappointments and joys of our lives

When I was in conversation with a young man in his mid-thirties recently he told me this about Christianity: it is only for the elderly or ill, because it is like a wonderful box of chocolates which you can only open when you die.  To a committed Christian this seems an extraordinary suggestion - a view of faith as an insurance policy.

On the seventh of this month I shall be going away to St Deiniol's Library in North Wales for a study week.  I know I shall be assured of a stimulating time, for the course I shall be attending is led by John Shelby Spong, one the most controversial figures in the church of recent times.  He was for many years Bishop of Newark, in the Episcopal Church of the United States (the Church of England's transatlantic cousin), and in a series of books, articles, lectures and sermons he has propounded a radical and controversial version of the Christian faith.

Thank you all for the wonderful welcome you have given to me, Neil, Toby and Guy.  Your encouragement and support for this time of settling in has helped considerably. I want especially to mention John Page, Martin and Dudley (the Churchwardens), for getting the house ready and preparing for the licensing and installation.  What a lovely service of welcome for us; my Mum, who is not a churchgoer, said she thought the service was really special: "full of love".  I heartily agree! John generously said at the welcome party that he felt God had called me here, and I feel that too: Hale with Badshot Lea is the answer to our prayers.