From the Curate

Dear friends,

February is a month of gentle turning. The days are still short, and winter has not yet released its grip, but there is a change in the air. Snowdrops push through cold soil, birds begin to rehearse their songs, and light lingers a little longer in the evening. Creation itself seems to whisper that something new is on the way.

At the start of the month we celebrate Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. It marks the end of the Christmas season and brings us back to that quiet, holy moment when Mary and Joseph carry the infant Jesus into God’s house. There, Simeon takes the child in his arms and proclaims him to be “a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”

Candlemas is a feast of light. We bless candles not simply as useful objects, but as signs of Christ, the Light of the world. In a season when darkness can still feel close at hand, this feast reminds us that God’s light is already among us—small enough to be held, yet powerful enough to change everything.

But Candlemas also carries a note of shadow. Simeon speaks of struggle as well as salvation. The light that has come into the world will be resisted. The child will grow into a man who walks the road of sacrifice. And so, almost without our noticing, the Church begins to turn its face towards Lent.

Later in the month, Ash Wednesday will mark the start of that holy season. Lent invites us to walk with Christ into the wilderness: to be honest about our frailty, to let go of what distracts us, and to make space for God to renew us. It is not a gloomy journey, but a truthful one. We remember that we are dust, yet also that we are dearly loved.

There is something deeply human about this movement from Candlemas to Lent—from light held in our hands to ashes traced on our foreheads. It mirrors our own lives. We carry hope and weakness together.

We know joy and struggle side by side. And in both, God is present. As February unfolds, I invite you to hold these two themes together:

The light of Christ that has come into the world and will not be overcome.

And the honest, healing work of Lent that prepares our hearts to receive that
light more fully.

Whether you are able to join us in church often, only occasionally, or never, know that you are part of this journey. You are held in our prayers, and in the love of God who walks with us through every season.

May Christ, the true light, shine in your homes and in your hearts. And may this coming Lent be for each of us a time not of burden, but of blessing.

With love, prayers and blessings

Christina