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Mary in the stable waiting.
hears again the angel’s voice:
‘favoured one the Lord is with you,
all Creation sings: ‘Rejoice!’
Mary waits, and heaven wonders,
at the Prince of Glory’s birth
from her womb, inside that stable,
heaven’s waiting room on earth.
Shepherds waiting on the mountain,
Wise Men searching for a sign,
hear that outcasts can be welcomed
at the baby Jesus’ side.
So the earth’s unlikely pilgrims
find themselves upon their knees
and a teenage mother watches
as they hail a refugee.
Son of God and hope of heaven,
with the waiting ones on earth,
we expect a world of diff’rence
when your justice comes to birth.
So the world is waiting, hoping
for the promised day to dawn;
when our longings find fulfilment
through the babe in Bethlehem born.
Gareth Hill Copyright © GraceNotes Music
she’s more or less designed to her taste.
Our move to Tregony was fraught. The home wasn’t going to be ready in time so we had to spend seven weeks in a spare manse in Truro – ideal for the shops and the station but with only a third of our possessions.
During that time Joy had a ball choosing the kitchen design, all the carpets, curtains, paint schemes and extras that go into shaping a new home.
The circuit were fantastic; very caring, but it was a tiring time and meant we were not settled until October. Mind you, Gareth has had to learn new skills and even buy a drill to get shelves and coathooks up!
Plans are being made for a big party to celebrate her being 50 in February.
Siân and Damien
They moved to Hafodyrynys, just outside Pontypool, towards the end of 2007 and are planning hard for their wedding in May next year at Llanyrafon Methodist Church where Siân goes on Sundays with Gareth’s Dad, Les.
Siân has just finished working for BonBon Buddies in Blackwood and started at Western Corrugated in Cwmbran where she is the receptionist/administrator.
She has entered into a number of activities in the area, singing with Gareth’s Dad in the Gwent Singers and another choir that stages a major charity concert at Christmas.
Damien is a chef at Bryn Meadows Golf Club and has taken up playing the game in the past few months.
Andrew and Rose
The Plymouth crew have had a really busy year getting used to being a foursome: little Matthew was born on March 1, St David’s Day – good planning, eh? – and has brought such extra joy into the family.
Rhys began school in September and has really grown up, starting all sorts of after-school clubs – trying football, swimming, dancing and gymnastics. He’s spent a couple of weekends with us on his own and Andrew, Rhys and Gareth have had a few boys’ afternoons at rugby games, usually supporting Cornish Pirates.
Andrew is still working as warehouse manager for a kitchen showrooms at Plympton and has just completed a level 3 NVQ in Logistics Operations Management. Rose is working at her degree course in Child Development.
They all attend Mutley Baptist Church where they plan to marry at the end of March.
Our parents
Joy’s mum and dad have had a tough year. Mum’s been quite poorly and dad has just come out of hospital after having a knee replacement so is spending Christmas on crutches! Gareth’s dad has had a good year, playing lots of golf and singing in choirs – including the final performance from the Gwent Singers – and plans to spend Christmas and the New Year in Cornwall.
In this year of the Credit Crunch, a story that brings hope and a smile must be Good News. That makes the story of God come to earth as a baby in Bethlehem one of the best to end the year with.
Our Christmas letter comes with the hope that you and your family (if you have one) are, once again, filled with joy by the appearing of Jesus in the manger.
Perhaps it’s always the same when you look back on the year, but we seem to have packed an awful lot into the past 12 months.
Since we wrote to you last year we’ve gained a grandson, changed a job, moved house twice in seven weeks and started to get ready for two weddings.
Joy and Gareth
As with many Methodists, we were on the move this year. After seven years in North Cornwall we knew it was God’s time to move – although leaving the surf church at Polzeath (www.tubestation.org) was not easy.
The Methodist Church’s process of moving its ministers is a bit peculiar, but we had great support from our District Chair, the Rev Dr Chris Blake, who is also a good friend, and Gareth has been given a really exciting job.
He is one of the few Methodist ministers in Britain to work in a circuit but have no chapels to look after! His official title is Fresh Expressions Pioneer Minister and he works as part of the Truro Circuit team on the Roseland Peninsula, where all of the Methodist churches have been sold over the past 20 years. He’s also an Associate Missioner with the national Fresh Expressions initiative.
His main job for the next five years is to "do church for people who don’t do church" while also caring for the handful of Methodist members
who attend other churches. Linked to the job, he continues to sit on the Methodist Church’s national Fresh Ways Working Group as well as the other committees so Joy still has to see him off on the train to London too many times for her liking.
One of the ways we’ve tried to get to know folk in Tregony, the village we now live in, is to join the Clockhouse Players, who produce the annual pantomime – oh yes, they do! – so we’ll be treading the boards in Cinderella during February half term: strictly chorus, that’s quite embarrassing enough, thank you!
After a tough few years in Wadebridge (including one year of being the only staff in what was officially a three-minister circuit) Truro has been very welcoming and because Gareth’s job doesn’t involve preaching every Sunday, we manage to worship together in Truro Methodist Church some weeks, including Kevrennek Praise, the evening contemporary service.
The song/hymn-writing continues and Gareth has three hymns included in the proposed new Methodist hymn collection, details of which were announced at the end of November … and this is despite being one of the people to speak against the proposed collection at Conference.
Joy is just about to celebrate a decade working as a health support worker at Treliske Hospital, Truro. The rest of the family reckon that, as the longest-serving member of staff there, she’s really in charge of the ward … why else would they let the Ward Manager have a year’s career break to go round the world!
She’s also revelling in having a new home that