Dear God’s People, Greetings of peace and love, and Merry Christmas

Jesus was today presented in the Temple by Mary and Joseph where they were met by Simeon and Anna who have been waiting for the saviour of Israel for a long time. As soon as Simeon sees Jesus he exclaims with joy as he says, “Now Lord you have kept your promise and you may let your servant go in peace.” (Lk 2: 29).

It is amazing how little Simeon has been given, as little as a glimpse of a child, yet he has been given enough that he is ready to let go and move on.

This year there has been a lot of letting go. As we reflected on Christmas, we saw that some how it was not the same. For many there were no big family parties, our Church Christmas Service was small as compared to previous years, we can’t go to theatre, children have not gone to school every day only a couple of days in a week. We had to let go a lot.

Simeon is one of those who had to let go not in an act of despair but through the act of gratitude, he feels he has been given enough, he has seen enough, he has been graced enough especially after seeing Jesus Christ the saviour of Israel.

We too must have a sense of letting go and ought to be grateful for what God has allowed us to see, to have and to experience. We must feel the love of God after knowing that Jesus the Emmanuel is with us.

One other things we must let go again is gathering in Church for worship. We are again closing our Church doors with the last service of today 27th December 2020 due to the second wave of Covid19. We shall evaluate the situation at the end of January to judge when it is safe to return to our sanctuary once again. This is done in order to us as Church to uphold life and to make sure that all of you are safe with your families.

I further wish to share with you that I got tested for Covid together with Juliana and we are both negative.

Thank you so much for your generosity in supporting this Church to keep on going even in a worst pandemic the world has ever had. May the Lord continue to bless you and watch over you. I wish you a prosperous 2021. Let us pray for a healthy 2021 as God unfolds and fulfils his promise.

Ven. Tobias Mutale.