Thoughts of a Team Vicar January 2024 

Rev Ashley Hines
Great Yarmouth Team Ministry

I cannot believe that as you sit with your morning cuppa or your nightcap reading the magazine that we have just begun 2024. When I was growing up and adults spoke of the year 2000 and pop groups sang about the year 2000, I and my friends couldn’t believe that we would see the age when technology ruled the world; but here we are in 2024 ever more reliant on technology and less and less on human contact
 
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against technology, but do we really need it to replace human contact? There are more and more self-serve tills at the checkouts, cash is becoming a thing of the past and we can buy anything online including our food. We are slowly becoming an insular society, a place that is no longer welcoming and inclusive. Yes, technology helps those who are housebound or disabled connect with the outside world, but for the majority of people it is having the opposite effect and we stay in more at nighttime and even where possible work from home. We are eroding our community where everyone in the street knew one another and as children for the most part we behaved, because sure enough when we did misbehave someone would see us and tell our parents meaning big trouble when we got home. I don’t know about you, but they did seem to be simpler times and we seemed to have more fun
 
As we sit in our homes that seem empty now that the decorations have been put away for another year, thinking about our loved ones who are no longer with us longing to have a chat with them, let us make a resolution that this year we will make it our mission to go out and chat to people. I know this is a scary thought but we can start with a smile and take it from there
 
Jesus came to share the good news. He spoke to everyone, he included everyone so that his message was heard by everyone willing to listen. Let us truly follow Jesus this year by giving his message to all who we meet with a smile and a warm hello and by behaving in a Christlike way. Who knows this time next year we may have doubled our congregations and have a living breathing growing church not an insular dying club

Wishing you all a Peaceful and Healthy New Year
Mother Ashley

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