Sue led our first session of the spring programme on Thursday, 2nd March. What a beautiful day it was too! We had a super turnout and it was wonderful to be back together again after the long winter.

Our Motto for 2023 is from Romans 12 v 12 : Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (NIV)

It is a verse worth learning, if you don’t know it already! The Committee’s prayer is that as we take it to heart and put it into practice in our lives, we might be able to serve the Lord, each other, and those around us better.

Sue took an example of someone who lived out this verse, the Antarctic explorer Edward (Ted) Wilson, who died in 1912 with Captain Scott.  Ted was a medical doctor, scientist and artist, and also a committed Christian, who followed the example of Jesus in his everyday life.

Be joyful in hope

Ted was a man who experienced great dangers and many difficulties, but he could say that he was content and confident, right to the end of his life because of his hope in God.

Patient in affliction

In the midst of those dangers and afflictions, Ted was peaceful, constantly giving himself to the welfare of others rather than his own.

Faithful in prayer

Every day, whether on the ship, or on the ice and despite his circumstances, Ted spend time with His Lord in prayer and Bible reading. Even in his final days, starving in a tent in the midst of a blizzard, Ted wrote to his wife assuring her that he was praying for her.

A medical student friend of his said of him, “His religion was a divine life, not a divine science.” Another friend wrote to his wife, saying, “I never thought the Christian life possible as an ideal, till I saw it in your husband!”

May we be challenged by our motto this year and whatever comes our way, let’s follow Ted’s example and be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.