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A year to remember?
Welcome to 2012!
The year which we have just begun is going to be a significant one, we are told, for the nation and the world.
I expect that it will not have escaped your attention that in this coming year, as well as hosting the Olympics, Greenwich will become a “Royal Borough” as part of the wider national and international celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
You may also have noticed certain anniversaries in the run up to Christmas, which will be celebrated in the coming twelve months. The bicentenary of Charles Dickens birth has prompted a spate of showings of his famous “A Christmas Carol”, and the centenary of the launching and fate of the Titanic has also been trailed.
Within the Church, too, there are historical moments to remember, and perhaps to treasure. Four hundred years ago the introduction of the Act of Uniformity meant that more than 2000 ministers were thrown out of their livings in the Church of England, and Non-conformity was born. The Prayer Book became compulsory in all Church of England, and former Ministers were not allowed to come within 5 miles of the towns where they had formerly been serving, but that did not stop the secret formation of Dissenting Churches – from which our own are descended.
So across the country, a number of United Reformed Churches will be celebrating their 400th Anniversary. Ours, of course, will not, but the URC as a whole will be celebrating the first formal joining of separate churches in this country, which took place in 1972 just forty years ago, when the United Reformed Church in England and Wales came into being. Since then, the Churches of Christ, and the Scottish Congregational Church have joined the party, and together we will celebrate all that is good in our Reformed tradition.
Of course there will be many more things to celebrate, personal and communal.
I wish you joy of all the good things, and wish you well for 2012. Your travleling companion
Harry
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