August 2026 

Greetings Dear Friends, and Welcome to Summer!

How do you react to that thought and what memories does it bring? In my early childhood summer meant firstly, 6 weeks away from Hutton School. Secondly, hoping for a bit of sun, and thirdly, as my mum worked at the family beach café at Uphill, I faced playing for many hours on the beach with friends from the local caravan site. They are wonderful and simple memories These days, no self -respecting parent would countenance their children doing that because climate change has become a real threat to us all, especially the young and elderly.

The result is that we have to change our ideas; to adapt to the new reality and governments are attempting to do that, with limited success it seems. Let me be clear, 70 years ago for me was not perfect, it was not an idyllic life, and many of you will have memories of those days. For me it was the divorce of my parents. However, progress for our society became inevitable, but as we know, it brought with it greater evils than we could have imagined with the world wide web. Now we have the spectre of A.I. raising great uncertainty. Why do I say this? It is simply to remind us as Christians, that whether it’s today, 70 years ago or way back in the time of Jesus, we can declare with absolute certainty that the only stable, satisfying existence is living as a friend of Jesus, a child of God. Our Heavenly Father does not change and He never has. God is consistent in His message of love and forgiveness to all who choose to respond to His love. God’s truth is the only aspect of life that any human being can depend upon.

So yes, welcome to summer. Yes, we have to adjust to what is happening in the world, but as we meet the challenges that come from all directions, so it is that when we meet regularly with our Christian family, it can give us a real sense of renewal and stability, and the reminder, as we sing and worship and listen together is that our God is an unchanging Father God.

It really works better when we do it together!

Moses said (Deuteronomy 32v4) God is the Rock, His works are perfect and all His ways are just.

Geoff