The coming year will be one that many have looked forward to for some time.  For those who hate sport, it is probably time to hibernate and emerge in the Autumn when it is all over!  But with the Euro 2012 football tournament, Test series against Pakistan, the West Indies and South Africa and the Olympics and Paralympics it is going to be quite a sporting year, to say nothing of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and other important events that will also take place.

But as well as looking forward, the start of a New Year can also be a time to reflect on all that happened during the past twelve months.
What events affected you and your family last year?  For some people, 2011 will have fulfilled all their hopes and promises; others will feel that the year brought more than its fair share of disappointments and sadness, which they will be relieved to leave behind. In the light of this, what are your hopes for the months ahead?

I’ve decided to use my article this month to talk about my sabbatical which I have been awarded by the Bishop, running from the end of May to late August.  I wasn’t expecting to be given a sabbatical and it came as both a surprise and a delight when the letter came in the post saying that I could take one.  It is a gift, and not a right, and it came out of the blue.

The first thing I want to say about it is that everything will carry on as normal at St Mary’s.  We are very blessed to have a number of people, lay and ordained, who share in God’s ministry here and they have very generously agreed and encouraged me to take this time out.  For the most part the services will be led by familiar faces, with help from a handful of kind people who have agreed to assist during this time.

There will be the normal pattern of services, and weddings, funerals and baptisms taking place as usual and the church will continue to function well and thrive, I’m sure.  Regular worship and services that I am already aware of will have been planned for and covered when drawing up the rotas but if there are pastoral needs, or if a baptism or funeral needs arranging, please ring my usual number, preferably on a Tuesday or Thursday morning when Wendy my secretary is here, and she will handle the enquiry.

So what will I do with this time?

A couple of weeks ago there was a news story that caught my attention. Four soldiers who had lost limbs or been badly injured in other ways during time in Afghanistan were preparing for a trek in the Arctic Circle. One soldier had been told he would never walk again and yet here he was putting in final training and preparations to be a part of a team covering the 250 miles from Siberia to the North Pole, each pulling a pack weighing over 100 kgs in temperatures ranging from -15 to -50 °c. The media had picked up on the story because Prince Harry was going to join them for part of the journey and they gave interviews and were photographed in Trafalgar Square as part of the build up. They're hoping to raise over £2 million pounds for charity as well as be the first amputees to successfully reach the North Pole unsupported. It is a remarkable and inspiring story that humbles us when we consider the devastating changes that have occurred in the lives of these young men. It puts our own everyday gripes and grumbles to shame.

As you read this, the end of 2010 is upon us and we face the beginning of 2011.  A new year stretches before us bringing with it new opportunities, experiences and challenges.  I hope that whatever 2011 holds for you it will be a year of good things and rich blessings.

Time is something that passes with a steadiness and constancy but it doesn’t always feel like that.  When we’re up to our eyes, hours just disappear under our noses.  When we’re ill a day can really drag and when we’re on holiday a week seems to go so much more quickly than a week spent at the office!  It doesn’t of course, but it’s just that our perception of time is altered according to our busyness or stillness.