Now the clocks have gone back and the nights are growing darker, I love evenings spent gathered round the fire in our living room, the whole family enjoying its warmth. My four year old daughter loves to help me light the fire each afternoon, and joining in that ritual together. It might only be November, but at church we’ve been planning Christmas for a while, and for me Christmas always brings that anticipation of being together. .

We all long to belong. We’re wired for connection, for community. But in practice, that sense of belonging can feel so elusive. The philosopher, Kierkegaard called it ‘alienation’ – disconnected from ourselves, each  other, and from God. We all want healthy relationships and real community,  but both on a personal and a national level, those can seem hard to come by, and often we can find ourselves feeling isolated and anxious.

At the start of November, we celebrate Remembrance Day, rooted in the memory of wars so terrible they engulfed the whole world. Nearly two years on, we still host many Ukrainian refugees in our own community, and watch as the war grinds on into another winter. This year, our service of Remembrance will be at 10.30am on Sunday 12th November, and we’ll be holding silence together at 11.00am as we remember those who gave their lives to bring us peace.

We all long to belong. We’re wired for connection, for community. But in practice, that sense of belonging can feel so elusive.

While energy bills aren’t in the news as much as they have been, the cost of living continues to present a real problem to many in our community. Partnering with the North Guildford Food Bank, we collected hundreds of pounds worth of donations during September to support those who are struggling to feed their families. We also operate a community Hardship Fund, which offers food vouchers to many families in the local area. If you are struggling with the cost of living, do drop in to Emmanuel during the week and we would love to help you find the support you need.

There’s so much going on in the life of our local community, as we come together to help others and help everyone to find that place to belong. Our community café and Fairtrade shop are open Monday-Friday, with a special Saturday opening 10.00am-2.00pm on Saturday 25th November. We also host a friendship club for senior citizens, discussion groups for all ages, fitness classes on a Monday and Friday mornings, Thursday night youth club, and Monday and Thursday toddler groups. If you have spare time or resources that you would like to offer to others, we’re always in need of donations to our hardship fund, and volunteers to help keep our café and community groups a space that can be open to all.

There’s so much going on in the life of our local community, as we come together to help others and help everyone to find that place to belong.

When we do come to Christmas, we’ll be celebrating the one who is the Prince of Peace. As humans, we often fail to find the peace we search for: peace between nations, peace in our communities, and peace in our hearts.

If you’ve never been to church before but want to experience something of the peace that Jesus offers this Christmas, we’d love to welcome you to one of our carol services.

That’s the offer of God at Christmas: the good news that God saw the brokenness of our world and made himself human in Jesus. He lived the perfect life and died on the cross in our place, to bring us peace with God and with each other. He offers us a love that never fails, and acceptance and belonging without condition or limit.

If you’ve never been to church before but want to experience something of the peace that Jesus offers this Christmas, we’d love to welcome you to one of our carol services. There are opportunities throughout December to gather together and hear again the story of the Prince of Peace, who left his heavenly home to come to ours, and who invites us to find true belonging and perfect peace with him. I pray that each of us might know more of that peace this winter, in our own hearts and in all our relationships.

Thom Jee
Vicar

Emmanuel Church
Shepherds Lane, Guildford GU2 9SJ