The minister writes… from our February 2026 newsletter
Dear friends,
February can feel like a month lived in the margins. Christmas is well behind us, spring feels more like a promise than a reality, and the days, though lengthening, are often still cold and grey. It is a season of waiting, and perhaps that makes it an honest time to reflect on how we live our faith when the world feels unsettled.
It would be impossible to pretend that all is well, either globally or closer to home. The news reminds us daily of conflict, division, and deep anxiety about the future. Many people are feeling weary, confused, or even fearful, not always because of what is happening to them personally, but because of what they see unfolding around them. As Christians, we are not called to shut our eyes to these realities, nor to absorb them uncritically, but to face them prayerfully and faithfully.
One of the questions that seems especially pressing at the moment is how we speak, and how we listen. The volume of public debate is loud, the language often harsh, and compassion can feel in short supply. In such a climate, the words of Jesus challenge us uncomfortably: “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” These are not sentimental ideals; they are demanding callings. They ask us to think carefully about what we say, what we share, and what we allow to shape our attitudes.
Christian hope is not naïve optimism, and it is certainly not denial. Hope is the quiet, stubborn decision to trust that God is still at work, even when we cannot see clear outcomes. It is choosing kindness when it would be easier to harden our hearts, choosing truth when distortion is tempting, and choosing prayer when anxiety threatens to overwhelm us.
As February edges us slowly towards spring, we are reminded that change often comes gradually, almost imperceptibly at first. Snowdrops push through frozen ground, not because the conditions are easy, but because life insists on emerging. Our calling is similar: to be people who bear witness to God’s love, not by grand gestures, but through faithfulness in small, daily acts of grace.
May this month find us attentive to God’s presence, careful with our words, generous in our judgements, and rooted in a hope that does not disappoint.
With every blessing,
Sharon
I was looking for a line from a hymn to finish with, and God is working his purpose out came to mind. It is hard to isolate just one or two lines because the whole hymn seems to speak into our current situation, but maybe the last lines of the first and final verses will both comfort and challenge you:
Nearer and nearer draws the time,
the time that shall surely be
when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea.
Image: S. Gardner Ambarrow Court 2023