Dear Friends,

Happy New Connexional Year to you all.

For many of us, September brings new beginnings and changes. You may be, or know, someone who is starting a new school year or perhaps a new school. The autumnal chill is creeping its way into our early mornings and evenings. We welcomed Rev Gill and her family, Isabella, Noah, Eva and Elias, to our circuit in the Circuit Welcome service last Sunday, where Sarah and I were also commissioned into our new role as Co-Superintendents. Some changes are welcome and exciting, whilst others may have brought sadness and concern. But in this time of reconnecting or making new connections or letting go, we can be assured of the constancy of God's grace, peace and love in all things.

Following one of the daily prayer apps, I was guided to Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37). Here God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones, having asked the question- "Can these bones live?" It is a passage which is used to inspire hope when it seems that all is lost. It is a fantastic passage to preach on, there is so much that can be shared, but in this time of reading it I was struck by the order that things happened and in particular that the bones were knitted together by sinews or tendons before anything else.

As anyone who has damaged or pulled tendons knows, these are vital in allowing a free movement and control of our limbs – these 'inner' cords hold together the muscle and bone and allow them to work together. There is strength in these sinews but there is also a vulnerability as well.

Through following other places in scripture where tendons or sinews are referenced it is incredible to see this theology of connection forming to ultimately being described in the form of Jesus, the corner stone, the Living Stone, the head of the body – holding together and allowing movement of the diverse parts in connection as the body of Christ.

As we begin this new Connexional year, let us embrace the change and the opportunities, the joy, the sorrow and the mundane and let us acknowledge our connections; within ourselves, with God, each other and the wider world. And let us pray that where connections are being strained, are decaying or broken that even in that place – God's spirit of peace and grace will be breathed.

Every blessing

Rev Karen