Dear friends,

Our lives are full of transitions: going to a new school, getting married, moving house, the arrival of a new baby or retiring from a lifelong career. You might be going through a time of transition right now.  Personally I'm just finding myself in that place. As many of you know I'm looking to move on to my first incumbency post with all the changes that it will bring. At the same time our team ministry will very soon be joined by Kim, our new team vicar. Again, things will be changing for her and you also will need to get used to a new face and maybe new ways of doing things.

As creatures of habit transition times are usually challenging times, however, we are in good company. When we look at the Bible we soon discover that our God is very much a transitional God who again and again sets people on journeys. Very often these journeys involve times spent in the wilderness. Just think of the Israelites 40 years of wandering in the desert between the slavery in Egypt and freedom in the Promised Land... the time between times and the space between spaces. It wasn't the most comfortable of times, but it was an important time and in our heart of hearts we know that we grow the most when being pushed out of our comfort zone.

Whatever the unchartered waters are we are heading for this summer - changes in the world of politics, changes in our churches and changes in our personal lives. Or maybe it's simply leaving good old England behind for a couple of weeks and exploring other parts of this world. We mustn't forget that just as much as God is present in our homes in England and on the beaches of Spain, he is also with us even if we find ourselves in the middle seat of the middle row in the very heart of cattle class. God is a pilgrim God who goes with us wherever we want to go or have to go. One of my favourite verses of the Bible is in the book of Isaiah: "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not see it? I am making a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Have a good summer everybody, Karsten