September is often a month of new starts.

A new term begins for our children, and maybe we think back to our school days and the start of the September term – with a mixture of excitement and trepidation: what will it bring?

For our country, there is the prospect of a new prime minister and a promised new start to our national discourse. And there is the unwelcome novelty of unimaginably high energy bills which will bring real suffering to many.

It is easy to say that what really counts is our response to what is new, whether good or bad. But I think it is nevertheless profoundly true. In the end, we cannot navigate a life free of change or challenge or hardship, of cancer or loss of sight, hearing or loved ones.

But what we can try to do is to hold onto an assurance that, as the great Julian of Norwich put it: ‘All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well’. Not escapism this, but a holding onto the Christian promise of hope based on faith and love, of Jesus as the light in our darkness.

Meanwhile, I shall look forward to seeing many of you with your pets at the annual Pet Service on Sunday 25 September at 11.00 am in All Saints.

With every blessing,
Stephen