Changing seasons

The leaves on the trees are starting to turn to their wonderful autumnal colours, and just today I glimpsed (and caught!) one of the whirling ‘helicopter seeds’ as it gracefully appeared from the clear blue sky.

There’s a chill in the air but a welcome warmth in the sun. Autumn marks the start of the next chapter of this year. But what does it have in store? Hopefully more churches being able to open their doors again, gathering together physically whilst following government regulations, guidance and precautions as we all continue to protect and look out for each other.

Music has always been a significant part of our fellowship at Horton Heath. Whilst it’s changed throughout the years; from solo pedal organ through to a six piece music group in its day, and in recent years seen the addition of our trusted ‘Joan the 3rd’ hymnal to help lead the singing, never did we imagine we’d see the day that singing publicly together would be prohibited throughout the land.

It brings to mind the beautiful Matt Redman song ‘When the music fades’, which reminds us that although things are different, not all is lost. We can gain a fresh deeper perspective. The songs, even when only sung in our hearts, encourage us to simply come back to the heart of worship and focus on God’s care and provision throughout the year.

There will need to be some creative, innovative thinking to reimagine upcoming celebrations like harvest, which we’d normally be celebrating in true Horton Heath style at the beginning of October. Whilst the services and celebrations will be different for each fellowship, maybe this year we will uniquely see churches gather virtually together from around the world. 

Keep being God’s light.