A New Year's Reflection

 Dear Friends:
Santa left an indoor garden under our  Christmas tree!   It's an AeroGarden.  An indoor garden that grows herbs, vegetables and much more all year round.  We planted  herbs, lettuce and cherry tomatoes on Boxing Day and as you can see, our little plats are sprouting already!  While we won't be able to host an all you can eat salad buffet anytime soon, we will enjoy some fresh vegetable through the winter and can even start a few vegetables to transplant come springtime. What I didn't anticipate was the enjoyment of waking up every morning and seeing the little pods sprouting to life before our eyes.  Its a wonderful reminder that given the right conditions, new life and new growth always abound! 

 As we begin a new year together as a parish family, I wonder what right conditions we may be mindful of  to ensure new life at Holy Trinity St. Stephen's.     St. Paul tells the church in Corinth, "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.  The old has passed away, behold the new has come. ( 2 Corinthians 5:17).  We are in the middle of the Christmas season, (yes, it's 12 days long so we can still sing carols and light up our trees!) when we celebrate God's presence entering creation in the baby Jesus. It's a time to claim that we are "In Christ" and that God has given new life to us and to our parish.  Our work together will be to live in that truth everyday and to find ways to point to that new life when we are together in worship, in social time, in meetings and in fellowship. Will we focus on scarcity or will we see  abundance? The world will remind us everyday that there is not enough.  Christmas reminds us that God has provided everything. And more!
  We can be exited to gather together and watch our life as a community sprout forth with newness.  I believe that living in the way of grateful thanksgiving creates the right conditions for growth and for new life to abound!   
I pray that you will walk alongside each other in faithfulness and friendship as we prepare to plant our garden in South London this year.  With the right conditions in place, new life and new growth always abound!
May God bless you and your loved ones this day and throught 2020!
Happy New Year!
Rob+to edit.