Dear Friends
You will all be aware by now that this is going to be my last year with you as minister at Llanishen. I am due to be moving on next summer to take up a new appointment, though as I write we do not know where that will be. At the present time Ruth and I have been making visits at the behest of the Connexional Stationing Committee. The itinerant ministry has always been about being on the move, going back to John Wesley's day when the preachers would travel from place to place between the different Methodist societies (on a 'circuit' and hence the use of that term in Methodism to this day to describe a group of churches in the same locality).
The story of Jesus is a story on the move. From the Christmas story with Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, followed by flight into Egypt to escape the machinations of King Herod; to the adult ministry of Jesus on the road with his disciples, this Son of Man with nowhere to lay his head. Just as the Christ was reliant upon the owner of a
back yard stable for shelter as an infant, so he came to rely on the hospitality of friends and supporters (people such as Lazarus and Martha and Mary) on his mission.
We too have enjoyed the friendship and support of the congregations at Llanishen, St Andrews and across the circuit over the past 8 and a bit years since August 2002. But the time has come for us to move on in our own journey.Having said that we are not quite at that stage yet. We still have the next 6 months and I hope that we can all make the best of the time that remains. But even beyond that we can continue to rejoice in the wonderful message of Christmas that God is indeed with us wherever we find ourselves.
So let us celebrate the Christmas season with that Gospel truth in our minds and on our hearts. I look forward to seeing you at services over the Christmas period.
Happy Christmas.
Phil Drake