Happy New Year! 2026,

I can’t believe it!! I hope you had a relaxing if not enjoyable Christmas and that you have been able to find some time to stretch your legs and blow away the cobwebs? Its lovely if you can to have some New Year’s exercise – perhaps a bracing walk if you are able?
A walk means a change of scene, a breath of fresh air, a chance to leave the hearthside. But what route will you take or which path would you like to follow? The prophet Jeremiah said this: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies, and walk in it.’
Its quite a good way to start a new year isn’t it? Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths where the good way lies and walk in it!
Jeremiah’s words will resonate with anyone who has walked a historic woodland. At every cross roads there are often multiple paths. Which one to take? Trampled bracken might mean someone has blundered off to the left; a faint hint of marshy footprints could mean someone has attempted to turn right; while ahead, a broad, well trodden track beckons. ‘Ask where the good way lies,’ writes the prophet, ‘and walk in it.’ One of the temptations of the New Year is that of self-reinvention. New hair, new job, new relationships, new gym memberships?! Sometimes we can blunder leftwards or attempt rightwards while all the time what we really need to do is discover the ancient path. The one mapped out for us at Christmas in the birth of Jesus – the path of self-giving, the path of self-forgetting, the path of faith and of love. Many have trodden it before us. All we have to do is follow.

So I wonder in whose footsteps you hope to walk this year? How will you remain faithful to the path? We are running an Alpha Course towards the end of this month – perhaps you might like to start there? Its a chance to ask all those questions about faith you have always wanted to in a friendly, inclusive environment, with fellow travellers. Its a chance to eat and drink amongst new found friends and listen to their stories. We have been handing out invitations to Alpha throughout December so you may have one already. If not, pick one up in either Capel or Ockley churches. Call or email me or Revd Gill if you think you might like to try this path. I promise you don’t need to become a vicar or a ‘happy clappy’ or whatever brand of Christianity puts you right off!! Its just about exploring quietly and gently what faith, if any, might look like for you. It certainly would be one of the ancient paths…

With my love and prayers
Liz

01306 711250 vicar@capelandockleychurch.org.uk 07837408239

Much of my letter is drawn from pages 22/23 of ‘Twelve Joys of Christmas’ Meditations for Christmas and the New Year by Nicholas Papadopulos Dean of Salisbury Cathedral. Available in our churches.
Revd.Liz Richardson
liz@hostmyserver.co.uk