Dear Friends

I’m writing this letter in the middle of January and it’s wet and cold and grey outside. I’ve just spent half an hour on my exercise bike desperately trying to keep my New Year’s resolution to get fit going… and it’s hard. I’m one of those people who could very easily hibernate through the dark and cold months and only come up from under the duvet when the sky is blue again and there’s a distinct sense of Spring in the air.

As I struggled to keep up with the pace set on my bike I was listening to ‘The Bible in One Year’ morning pod cast and the speaker was talking about the passage in the Bible from Matthew 9:18-25. In the passage the leader of the Synagogue comes to find Jesus; he kneels before Him he says” My daughter has died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live. Jesus took His disciples and went to the Synagogue leader’s home. People outside were weeping and wailing… Jesus told them to ‘go away’… ’she is not dead just sleeping’ He said. Jesus went into the room

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!”, (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”)… and she got up!

As I continued on my exercise bike… looking out across the bleak wet and windy playing field I had this feeling that the girl in the bible could be symbolic of how we can often feel at this time of the year. For many life seems hard… there can a heaviness to life and we feel listless and almost lifeless in our lack of motivation and enthusiasm… perhaps even a lack of hope… especially when the skies are grey.

If that’s how you’re feeling I would encourage you to imagine Jesus taking your hand… and calling you to ‘get up’. The little girl in the Bible passage didn’t appear to be able to get up on her own… but with Jesus’ help… as He took her hand… her life took on new meaning.

It’s this hope of light and life in the midst of the darkness and the sometimes greyness of life that the Christmas Story is all about. Jesus came to be that light and that hope for every single one of us. He offers us His hand… to help us to rise up to a better place and a better way of being… and to the new life that He offers.

It might be that by the time you’re reading this we have an early Spring and the signs of life and hope are all around us in God’s creation… but if that’s not the case and you find yourself struggling (as many of us do this time of year), I encourage you to hold out your hand and simply pray, “Jesus would you come and take my hand and lift me up” and then begin to see His Light and His hope begin it’s wonderful work in your life.

“Talitha koum!”

God Bless, Rev Cathy