A number of churches are now open for worship.
To find information on where services will be held please see the preaching plan for each month.
In the gentle passing from dark to dawn, the creational command is given to declare the start of a brand new day. Instruments are made ready, deep breaths are taken and then first one and then another begin to share in the unfolding dawn chorus. Each voice from their vantage point or perch, in tree and branch, roof and hedgerow take their turn and play their part. I would like to say I have been listening to the dawn chorus over recent days on account of being up soon after 4.00 am to begin my morning devotions in the pattern of John Wesley. However this can only work if you are asleep by 9.00 pm or 10.00 pm at night. Rather it was with windows open amid warm summer nights that the dawn chorus operates as the most beautiful alarm call to greet each and every new day.
It is a wonderful event, as light creeps into hearth and home the songs begin. Some are just a simple repeated note or two, others are complex and varied. There are different voices, volumes and rhythms making up each song. This isn’t a unison performance, the songs are different, but combined together, rather than chaos, creation’s beauty is proclaimed in the triumphant declaration of a new day dawning. The night is past, as we read:
‘And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.’ (Genesis 1:23)
A new day dawns for our circuit as we continue our progress out of lockdown restrictions and look out on a changed world. As we make steps together locally and more widely with our Christian brothers and sisters to share the good news of God’s love for the entire world revealed in Jesus Christ. We too have our songs to sing! Each song is different, each is unique, each is heard, cherished and brings pleasure to our heavenly Father. Combined together, the birds, creatures and even the people called Methodists, offer a symphony of sound in praise and worship to almighty God.
As my appointment comes to an end, I give thanks to God for you, the communities of Truro Methodist Circuit, with all your varied roles and voices. I will continue to pray for you as we look forward to this new dawn, the future that God is leading us into. There is so much that is unknown and even uncertain, but we put our trust in God’s care and we place our hands into God’s hand. As Jesus tells us:
‘Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?’ (Matthew 6:26)
It has been my privilege to have served with you since March 2016. Again like the birds, the time has flown and as we say our goodbyes, as Paul wrote to Philemon:
‘I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers,’ (Philemon 1:4)
May you keep singing your songs to the glory of God, as Psalm 100 declares:
‘Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations.’
Yours in Christ,
Revd Mark Liddicoat
