I AM the new minister at Melksham United who followed Rev Cathy Arscott. Already after only one month I feel ‘at home.’
My family including mother, father, children and grandchildren live in Canada with the exception of a son, daughter-in-law, and two lovely granddaughters who reside in Northern Ireland, so it’s important for me to find a place that I can call home. I have been shown hospitality from my church family, Melksham family of Churches and the locals in every shop and on every corner.
The recent headlines in The Melksham Independent News “THE BIG CHRISTMAS SWITCH OFF! Market Place delay hits Christmas lights display” caught my attention and I cannot help consider the very first Christmas where a young girl was provided with humble accommodation in a dimly lit stable. Almost simultaneously, shepherds were looking after their sheep in a nearby field when the sky was lit up in a blaze of glory with a great company of angels who heralded the arrival of the Saviour, Jesus Christ. He grew up and said to his followers, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Now I am told that there is nothing to rival Melksham’s ‘Christmas Light Switch On’ and looking at the past photographs, I have to agree. But whether Melksham’s ‘Christmas Light Switch On’ is up to its former glory or not, Christmas celebrations will never be switched off. Christmas is here to stay and the big ‘switch on’ happened many years ago where a light shone in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out. As most of us know, Halloween precedes Christmas. In recent days Christians have renamed and reclaimed this day and dubbed it Light Parties and there are Light Party resources that ask you to ‘seek the light this year’.
Melksham, I’m looking forward to your light display this year. I know it will be glorious! But your generosity of heart and warm welcome to me has lit up my life. I pray that many will ‘seek the Light this year’ because this Light is seeking you.
Bless you Melksham, Heather Wilson
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