President's Christmas Message

Dear All

I am sure many of us enjoy hearing the Nativity story.

As I have been taking services across the years I like to find a different thought about it and this year I want to share an insight with you.

Strange as it may seem, I had never really thought about the fact that Jesus was born in the night. It is obvious. But I hadn’t looked into it and thought why? What is God saying to us, as everything that happens has a reason and this year as I wondered, I felt this.

Jesus the ‘light of the world’ came to bring this light to a dark world, a world where evil existed and pain and suffering occurred. Jesus came to bring His light, His love to all of us. As you look into the story you see the angels as they came to speak and sing to the shepherds they brought light from heaven; the magi followed a light in the heavens which guided them to Jesus. Light plays a major part in the story. And with the light comes love.

As we look to our era with the many stories we hear of people’s pain and suffering, it seems the world is full of darkness and this can make us fearful. We need to hold onto the fact that God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit all bring light not only into our hearts but through us, seeds of this light, this love, can be felt by others. Every action you do, every prayer you make, makes the world a better place, brings a piece of the Kingdom of God here to earth.

Not only that, this Nativity story shows that God comes alongside us, He comes to where we are, He is with us in the dark, the painful moments, when we feel alone He stands beside us.

So may this Christmas enable you to find that light and love of God, so you will be filled with hope for the future.

Thank you for all you do, in prayer and action. God Bless you.

Sarah (Wyman Diocesan President for Bristol Diocese)

AFIA

On Tuesday 18th March, St Anne's Coffee & Chat along with St Anne's Mothers Union raised £267.00 for AFIA. Great Cakes, Great Atmosphere, Great Amount raised!

President's Report for 2024

By Sarah Wyman, Diocesan President.

As this is the beginning of the triennial many people have changed places

and I am just finding my way. Jacky my predecessor has given me a good

base to start from and I am pleased to say a group of trustees and friends

whose support is amazing. We have a new patron, the Duchess of

Edinburgh.

The South West Cluster is proceeding onwards, the constitution has been

sent to the charity commisioners, the applications for the specialist trustees,

treasurer, safeguarding and database have been distributed.

Behind the scenes we are trying to get various legal documents underway,

descriptions of what our trustee board will be like once it becomes a

committee. The rules and regulations and various other documents. Our

first stage today later Aurea will be talking about the changes we need to do

to our constitution.

Another major change has been our direct debit scheme to help our

collecting of subscriptions and cutting down on the bank charges that exist

for cheques and other things.

It has taken a while and hopefully with Jacky’s help will be ready for next

year.

We are planning to have a commissioning service for myself on the 3 rd of

July, we are awaiting our new Chaplains to finalise the date and then

invitations will be sent to you all. We will be back in the Cathedral, from

what I gather the first Thursday Eucharists that we as MU support are

increasing in number and Rachel and Paul are incorporating various

prayers from MU into these services. Anyone can attend them so we are

witnessing to others.

Next year is our 150 year celebration for the MU. We plan to have a service

in the Cathedral and are awaiting on our chaplains Rachel and Paul to

enable this to happen.

When we had our 140 I remember the many banners that were paraded

through the street. This time it would be interesting and maybe fun to see

how many banners we can bring to the cathedral. I am not proposing that

we carry them but put them around the cathedral. We havent quite worked

out how to do it, but I know the difficulties of carrying banners on the bus.

There are many banners in the diocese from closed branches and I am

hoping that we will be able to bring just the banner not the wooden staff to

the cathedral. So please can you look around the churches near you and let

me know if there is a banner and where it is so I can co-ordinate the

number and where they are. It should be a good time. Something we can

look forward too.

I am also hoping that we can all get together as a cluster and go around the

eight dioceses that form the SW Cluster as it would be nice to meet other

MU people through out our group.

MSH is looking into dementia awareness and hoping to link up with a

charity who can help us be aware of how we can not only help us members

who are suffering from this horrible illness but those in our communities. For

instance, pictures are very helpful as they bring back memories and maybe

we need to look at sending cards to those we know who are struggling.

I am hoping that we can bring some better communication in our diocese

spreading the word of what we are involved in.

Thank you for all your support and all the prayers you send to God for us to

help those who are struggling. I am very proud in what we do and thank

you. God Bless you All.