Letter from the Rectory
PARISH
OF LLANDUDNO, NORTH WALES
January 2008
Where do you ‘see in’ the New Year? Is it at a party with
lots of friends, or at an event in a hotel, pub or club? Perhaps you
prefer to celebrate it quietly at home with your family, or maybe
circumstances mean that you have to see in the New Year on your own.
At one time many churches had ‘Watchnight’ Services on New Year’s Eve
and they encouraged their members to prepare for, or to ‘see in’, the
New Year with an act of worship. For the most part these services seem
to have died out and very much doubt if many would want to come to such
an event these days. But although we no longer have a special service
on New Year’s Eve there are still opportunities to celebrate the
beginning of a New Year with special acts of worship.
New Year’s Day is actually the feast of the Naming of Jesus also known
as the ‘Circumcision’. On this day the Church remembers the occasion
when, in obedience to the Law, the infant Jesus received the outward
sign of the Covenant in his flesh and was also officially given His
name. Our Lord’s name has a tremendous significance. It means ‘Yahweh
saves’. Indeed we know that Jesus is the one who saves! So on New
Year’s Day why not come along to the Eucharist to honour the name of
Jesus and to dedicate the New Year to His Holy Name, acknowledging Him
afresh as Lord and Saviour.
Then on the Sunday after Epiphany (13th January), we celebrate the
Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. For Christ this event marked the
beginning of His Ministry and as He entered the waters of Jordan He was
able to identify with the sinful humanity that He had come to save.
When we celebrate Christ’s Baptism we are given a wonderful opportunity
to give thanks for our own Baptism, the beginning of our life in
Christ. At the 10.30 am service on that day we bless water and are
invited to use it to mark ourselves with the sign of the cross on our
foreheads so renewing our baptismal covenant with Christ. This lovely
ceremony, which is a fairly recent one in Anglican liturgy, had a truly
ecumenical inspiration being based partly on the Easter Orthodox custom
of blessing the waters at Epiphany and the Methodist Covenant Service
which takes place every January.
What better ways than these could there be of beginning 2008 and
dedicating the New Year to the glory of God? I wish you all a very
happy New Year!
Debember
2007