Dear All
Happy New Year!
2017 looks like it might be an interesting year.
The US welcomes a new president. I wonder if he really will get the leader of North Korea over to the U.S for a burger and a chat, or continue his policy of tweeting to an astonished world his thoughts and opinions.
Will our Prime Minister finally trigger the process of our exit from the EU, will there be a general election? Who knows, I doubt whether there will be an election this year. It is a lot more complicated now we have fixed term parliaments.
Meanwhile back at St Nicholas, Chiswick, 2017 looks like it will be an exciting year.
First my thanks to everybody who worked so hard to get church ready for our Christmas celebrations, the place looked magnificent, the flowers were wonderful, the liturgies were good and well attended and the place was clean and warm. We also managed to raise an amazing sum of money for our contribution towards the St Simon and Jude building project, just over £2,600. Mention must be made for our Sainsbury’s carol singers, they went down a storm, I’m sure they will be invited to return next year!
Other good news is the imminent arrival of Alan Trigle our new Self-Supporting Curate. Alan will be training with us for the next few years, he will be ordained a priest in 2017 and we hope he will be very happy with us. Alan begins his ministry amongst us on Sunday 5 February at 10.30am so please put the date and time in your diary.
Building work continues and soon our organ builders will be begin the job of re-assembling our organ, repaired and renewed, in its new home.
God is good, we have so much to be thankful for.
Simon
Dear Friends
Thank you for your cards and good wishes for Christmas. Gerald and I had a lovely – if slightly chaotic – time, with our three children and five grandchildren all with us on Christmas Day. Thankfully life has been a little quieter over the New Year and I have managed to catch up on some reading.
I was delighted to come into the church after Christmas and see so many bags of donations for Foodbank. Many thanks to everyone who gave so generously, especially those who took up my suggestion of gathering one donation for every day of Advent. I trust there will be an equally good response to Hilary Lines’ appeal for donations of clothing for refugees during this coming week.
As we enter 2017 life feels very uncertain, both nationally and internationally. These verses from Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam sum up my hopes for the coming year:
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
With all good wishes for a joyful and peaceful New Year.
Eileen