To everyone in the St Giles’ and St Margaret’s church communities,
As many of you know, I have been on sick leave since the end of January. I am pleased to say that, after being ‘signed off’ by all the relevant medical and Diocesan folk, I will be returning to “active duty” from next week – albeit on the basis of a phased return over August and September. Initially I will only be working on Tuesday and Sunday, and then gradually increasing my hours until I am back to full-time. So I am going to have to ask for a little more patience from everyone!
I am so grateful to so many people at St Giles’ and St Margaret’s who give their time and dedication to these families of faith, and have kept things ticking over during my absence – but I must pay special tribute to the clergy and churchwardens, whose workload was significantly increased by my going off on leave. Thank you so very, very much.
As many reading this will be aware, the last year or so has been a very difficult period for my family for a whole variety of reasons – of course, no-one needs me to tell you that all families and individuals face hard times in their lives. I have been so touched by the various gestures and expressions of support from so many people in this community as they have reached out to us, and it makes me all the more aware of the importance of Christian community in making God’s love real and concrete in our lives.
And speaking of community, both St Giles’ and St Margaret’s are at a really exciting time in our collective lives, as we begin to explore in more depth how our recent and ongoing building developments can help us to participate in God’s mission. I can’t wait to be back with you all to join in this process (it seems that I, too, am going to have to learn patience!)
God bless,
Daniel