Letter from Jon, January 2024 

 Dear Friends
 
Happy New Year and welcome to 2024.  I hope that over Christmas you have been able to enjoy some rest and peace and also to experience the joy and hope of Christmas.  On Boxing Day we were reflecting on the highlights of 2023, of which there were many (together with a few challenges!).  As I considered all the experiences and blessings throughout the year I realised that one of the greatest had taken place only two days before, on Christmas Eve as we gathered to worship God with our Carols by Candlelight service.  Now I always love opportunities to sing Christmas carols, whether that be on a Sunday morning in Liberty Centre or a Saturday morning in Tesco.  There is something wonderful about expressing these timeless truths of the incarnation of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  It is a joy to sing out the Good News of Jesus Christ in a supermarket and to see people stop and smile, even join in, without a hint of security coming to throw us out.
 
Our Carols by Candlelight service for me, however, was something extraordinary (and my apologies to anyone who was not able to make it along).  I have never seen Liberty Centre so full.  People just kept arriving as we set out more and more seats.  Every age and stage of faith represented.  There was such a sense of joy and hope and when we raised our voices in sung praise together it was just beautiful.  When we came to the end of the last carol, O Come All Ye Faithful, I didn’t want it to end.  I wanted to carry on singing God’s praises together.
 
More than the number of people that came along, and more than the sound of so many voices praising God together, the thing that made this gathering so wonderful for me were the people themselves.  As I looked around the room there were so many of the Liberty Family; people we have known and walked together with over these years, and so many others from so many areas of Liberty life and outreach; connections from all the areas of life where Liberty people give and serve.  There were those who brought their families and friends.  As I looked around the room I have to say I found it quite emotional.  I realised that this Liberty family is becoming a place of hope and community for so many more; that God is drawing others into our midst to a place of life and salvation.
 
Rowland spoke of hope at yesterday’s Sunday meeting; hope in the midst of all the challenges of life.  A hope that is built on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ, his kingdom here and still to come.  I believe that 2024 will be a year of hope where we will see others gathered into God’s family, finding that place of love and acceptance in the arms of a loving Father.  I pray that 2024 would be filled with hope for you and those you love.
 
Much love
 
Jon