Dear Friends,

As I look out of my study window, across the road I can see what has become something of a symbol of our present age. It is a phone box. Some of you will still remember the friendly and familiar red box with its buttons A and B - that dates me. This one of course is not red but a rather dull stainless steel colour, glass sided in extremely toughened glass, that none the less has been replaced on numerous occasions and no doubt great expense. It has the obligatory graffiti all over it and the usual smell of a public toilet. Recently, efforts were made to paint over the more gross comments on the outside in a rather half hearted manner that has left it even more unattractive. You would really have to be in dire straights to use this public facility, though if you did you'd be in for a shock. I didn't mention, it no longer has a telephone, it has been removed officially or unofficially!

So there we have it, this grubby little testament to the changing world in which we live, light years away from the little red box of the community. Prosperity and technology have meant we now have mobiles and instant access to almost anyone. Work patterns and life style have meant that we struggle to 'do' community, even if we like the idea.

Loss of community however, is far more serious than a loss of an ideal. we were created in the image of God who has revealed Himself to us through relationship in the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we jettison community we lose something very fundamental to our humanity. We need one another to be fully human. Young people sense this deep need. Next to the deceased telephone box is a bus shelter that has become the present meeting place for some of the younger members of our local area. Quite rowdy at times and often there until quite late, they express the need to be with others, to be accepted. That period of adolescence, which seems to get younger by the year, is such an important time for people to find their identity, to discover who they are. It is a time when relationships are so important when decisions are being made and directions are being set. It can be a very frightening time period for young people when acceptance by their peer group is their primary concern. If however, those young people have grown up in a community where they are known and accepted and valued it can make a tremendous difference. It all starts in the home of course with healthy and loving relationships, yet even when these break down a good community can do much to prevent the 'yob' culture so much in the news at present.

St Michael's Church is here in our community to offer love and acceptance, healing and forgiveness to all people of all ages and to build and value community. To know the love of God and His acceptance of us, is the foundation for all our relationships with one another, and transforming in its power.

Best wishes,