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Dear Friends
Yesterday in the post I received my copy of a journal I subscribe to and which comes out three times a year. It is called 'Quiet Spaces' and it is a journal which encourages us to find time to be quiet in the midst of life which so often is incredibly busy and pressurised and hectic. There is little doubt that for many of us December is a month when we are overtaken by busyness and activity and pressure! So much to do, so many shops to visit, presents to buy, cards to write, maybe even parties or functions to go to - and all of that surrounded by crowds of people doing the same thing.
It can be very hard to find a 'Quiet Space' in the middle of it all - it can be squeezed out by the crowds and the pressure. And yet, if we do not find the 'Quiet Space', we are liable to miss the very heart of Christmas. In order to catch the message and the meaning of it, we need to stop, to listen, to reflect, to pray.
My first appointment as an Interim Minister was on the island of Bute - a beautiful island with amazing views of the Clyde estuary. There was one day I was needing to find a 'Quiet Space' and I drove to a place where I could park my car near the shore. I switched the engine off, put the radio off, and for a short while I enjoyed the stillness. I could hear the water lapping on the shore, and the gentle breeze in the air -believe it or not, I had never heard that before, because I had never been quiet or still enough to listen. There was water lapping all round the shore of Bute, but I had never been quiet or still enough to listen. There was water lapping all round the shore of Bute, but I never noticed it, because I was too 'busy' to be still. When God says to the Psalmist: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46: 10), he knows what he is talking about! Sometimes we need to be still, to find the 'Quiet Space', to step aside from the routine and to find God in the silence.
Christmas is such an important time of year for us in the church. The message of God's love come down at Christmas is so exciting and life changing that we do not want to miss it! But we need to pause, to listen and to find the 'Quiet Space'. I hope you can find your own space, and I hope, too, that you can join with others in worship over these coming weeks as together we seek to celebrate the message that is at the heart of this season of the year.
Every blessing,
lain Goring
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