Today our Annual Parochial Council Meeting takes place within our morning worship.  The business part of this meeting is short: we elect those who will serve as our Church Wardens and on our Parish Church Council for the coming year. 

The APCM gives us the opportunity to give thanks for all who have served our community in the past year; to declare our support for those who will serve us going forward; and to ask for God’s blessing on their work. 

In place of the sermon we will have a speed summary of what we have been up to in the last year. 

As we look back at 2025 and look forward to the year ahead we have a chance to reflect on what it means for each of us to be part of Christ’s church.  In John 17:1-11, Jesus prays that his disciples may have eternal life which he describes, not as life after death or life at the end of time but as a relationship with him and with God:

“And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”  

Christ’s gift to the church, life in all its fullness, is found in the depth of our relationships, not only with God but also with one another; so Jesus prays “that they may be one, as we are one.”

In the year ahead may those relationships increase and strengthen  as we seek to become a beloved community bring Christ to the world.

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