A note from Keith
3 February 2012
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
On Sunday evening we have a New Year Service. ‘New Year?’ you may say, ‘but which New Year?’ We have left the month of January behind, we have shared the significance of the Chinese New Year, but the new year I am referring to is the coming together after all the activities of the summer (even though it has been wetter and cooler than normal and, ironically, as is often the case, our hottest days have coincided with the beginning of the school term!). We gather in the Wesley Theatre at 6pm to offer our prayers and commitment for the challenges that lie ahead.
On the corresponding Sunday, six years ago, I began my ministry at Wesley Mission. We have been on a journey that might be described as demanding on so many different fronts, but we have reason to feel confident in the assurance of God’s presence as we have, one-by-one, dealt with the issues that had to be faced.
Over the past 200 years, from those small beginnings, a community grew into what Wesley Mission is today and this has only happened because people were willing to take the risk of a life in Christ and a kingdom that is broader and stronger than mere survival.
I hope you will forgive me recounting a simple old poem that runs like this:
There was a very cautious man
Who never laughed or played.
He never risked, he never tired
He never sang or prayed.
And when one day he passed away
His insurance was denied
For since he never really lived
They claimed he never died.
In preparation for this coming year, I have given time to reading of the ministry of W G Taylor and some of those people who were in the early life of the Central Methodist Mission. They had to venture out for Christ and they were richly blessed in the process, but there were times when the demands were well nigh unreasonable and some would have thought impossible. Nevertheless, God has blessed us and the words of a gospel hymn still resonate with truth:
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Warmly yours
As Superintendent and Friend,
Rev Keith V Garner
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