So that was 2013...

As we near the dawn of 2014, I've been inspired by a friend to take a look back on the past year. It does seem like only yesterday that my niece, a very close friend and myself found ourselves in the common room of Westminster College playing 'Fleeced', but that was a whole year ago now! So what has happened between then and now?

Well lots, there have been 365 days after all! But I guess if I'm really going to reflect on the past year, maybe I should be a little more specific.

I've finished my second year of my theology degree and started my third and final year.
I've rejoiced over some of my marks and cried over others.
I continue to stare at piles of books and scratched my head wondering how I turn what I've read into an essay that answers the question posed.
I'm beginning to accept that I now think more like a theologian than an engineer; although I still like a good diagram and look for a logical and systematic approach!
I've got on a plane and travelled to foreign parts on my own! (Huge moment and was very pleased to see a friendly face when I got off the plane at my destination.)

As in many years, there have been ups and downs:
Moments when I've wondered what I'm doing there and others when I've know exactly why I'm there.
There have been days when I've wished I could have had a second attempt at them.
There has been a new addition to the family, my third nephew, who is a joy and at nine months loves to give you a wave.
I have been to new places, seen new things, as well as continued to enjoy calling Cambridge "home".
I have managed another year of not managing to visit a number of good friends, but I do think of them often and miss them a great deal.
I've made new friends, whilst other friendships appear to have sadly come to an end.

So 2013 draws to an end and a new year dawn; a year in which I will finish my degree, start my year in pastorate with another minister and start the process that will hopefully lead to a call to a pastorate and ordination! So nothing to big happening!

Words...

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

I wonder if the person who came up with that rhyme was trying a bit of reverse psychology on themselves in the vain attempt to deal with one of those conversations where if the words were not meant to hurt then the other person involved really made a bad choice of words. We all know that words can hurt! They are our primary means of communication and even if we don't set out to hurt someone with what we say, sometimes the words we choose convey the wrong meaning. Sure we can all interpret words differently too, and we can turn innocent sentences in to something that they are not. But words do have power, which we all have the tendency to forget at times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU

Of course, words don't just have the power to knock a person down and hurt them, they also have the power to build someone up, give encouragement, and even change their life. The You Tube video I've shared here struck me as an amazing example of how some very simple, but well composed words can make a huge difference.

Well chosen words...change conversations that can be misunderstood to conversations that are thought provoking;

Well chosen words... give an incentive to change rather than desire to dig one's heels in.

Well chosen words... are the difference between hurt and love.

The Church has a lot of words, some used well and others used not so well. However, in the season of Advent, the Church's thoughts are very much drawn to words, particularly 'the Word'. For it was 'the Word' coming into the world that made things happened; changed it. And it is the returning of the Word in the world that there is a longing and looking forwards to. But 'the Word' isn't just something of the past and the future, it is also in the present. For as there are words in the world, so the Word is still in the world, for it is made know through our words.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." (John 1.1-3)

So remember your words and chose them with care, for today they may come to mean something more than just being a few words.