So here we are in 2026. How’s it going so far? My last lie in I guess for a bit and some jobs round the house maybe… Traitors at 8pm!
The Church Times had a headline this week “Fear not, bishops tell the faithful at Christmas.” We begin 2026 with the world precariously unstable. There’s a lot of “fear not” in the story we’ve just celebrated and it’s there 365 times in the Bible. I keep writing that I know!
Yesterday I took a trip to Auckland Project in County Durham. As well as a quick look at the palace and learning about the power of the Prince Bishops in history, I went to the fabulous Faith museum. It really is fabulous, much bigger than I thought it would be. You need a few hours to do it justice. Over Christmas there’s been a Neapolitan nativity on display. It has 400 figures in it.
It was fascinating to watch the time people of all ages were spending looking at it. It was almost escapism in them. I like what the founder of the Auckland Project says about interacting with it.
“How strange it seems in today’s world. But as we look at it, the magic which captured the hearts of 18th century Neopolitans captures our hearts too. Glance at the others as they look at what you’ve been looking at. It’s the radiance of the smile, not the reverence of the knee which marks the experience. And yet, perhaps despite ourselves, we are wistful for a simpler world, and here we find it.”
“Fear not” - maybe that’s the message the Church takes into 2026. Gaze on the glory of God. Take time to see it and hear of it and share it. I’ve written a text this morning about the year ahead. I take on new responsibilities in September. I wrote I hope for churches that smile at what they do rather than stress at what they can’t do.
This year that has passed I’ve seen the churches I serve change focus. We have spent a lot of time meeting people where they are. Through conversation and encounter and acceptance where people are is the call of the church. I have so many people talk to me who are frightened. We need to walk through that fear with them. One of my favourite writers Barbara Brown Taylor warns what happens if we lose the point:
So my hope for 2026 is we remain people who meet others where they are. In bereavement, in uncertainty, in pain, in joy. And we need to have more time for this work. The incoming Archbishop this new year has it right.
“The role of the church should be a healing presence in our nation, bringing people together at times of often intense division, caring deeply for those who need our help.” “Fear not!”
The world as scary as the bit in the Sound of Music which is on this afternoon when the Nazis come to find the Von Trapps in the convent. I’ve seen the film over and over but it’s as scary as ever. That’s where people are at the beginning of 2026. Let us pray for us all confidence, peace and hope in God and let us be people who live smiling at what we see God doing even when it’s mad out there. Did you see what a certain President posted on truth social over Christmas? Lord have mercy…
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