Our Moderator’s Message

Beta, Delta, Omicron … we’ve all been getting used to letters from the Greek alphabet over the past year, as they’ve been used to label the successive variants of the Coronavirus. As I write, Omicron is the latest. It comes to us from South Africa, and is beginning to spread rapidly through the country, and indeed through many other countries too.  We wonder whether vaccines, boosters, home working, masks and passports will be enough to contain this new threat, or are we once again moving towards a more serious lockdown?  I’m sure we’ll all follow the rules and regulations as best we can, because we want to protect ourselves and those around us.  But we’ve had enough of it all!  When will it ever end?

I’ve no idea when or how the pandemic might end, but as we head towards Christmas and then into the New Year I have two more Greek letters for you. Alpha and Omega. They are the very first and the very last letters of the Greek alphabet.

The Bible speaks of Jesus as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  Jesus was there at the very beginning of all things; and at the very end he’ll be the one to make all things new and complete his eternal kingdom of light and love, where all things will be perfect and good, fair, just and righteous.

In the middle of it all Jesus came to us, in our everyday world, and experienced life just as we know it.  He was born as a baby in Bethlehem.  He grew to be a man who showed us God’s ways of compassion and love, calling everyone to turn to him.  He died a cruel death at the hands of those who rejected him. And yet, in that death Jesus opened the way to new life.  In rising from the dead Jesus proved the truth of new life; and he continues with us in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

I’ve no idea when or how the pandemic might end.  But the truth of Jesus stands; he is the Alpha and the Omega, and in him there is light and life and hope.

“Immanuel” is a great name that the Bible gives to Jesus; it means “God with us”. Whatever Christmas and New Year may bring, may you know the strength and hope and joy of Immanuel – God with us.

Ron Davis