May 2022 Letter   

Hello friends

I am starting with my lament of catching covid.  Easter is such a very special season, I managed to take part in the serious Lenten events leading up to Easter, but missed out completely on the happy, filled with joy and fun events like Messy Church and Easter Sunday.   There was no buying of Easter eggs, meeting family and friends, it was all lost to both Roger and I this year as we stayed at home nursing our symptoms and waiting for a negative covid test result.  End of rant and thinking positively.  We are fully vaccinated, and our recovery could have been much slower and even worse if we were not vaccinated.  I am extremely grateful to the NHS for taking such great care of us as individuals and as a nation so that the vast majority of people are surviving this nasty virus. Thank you NHS. Following Easter Sunday, the Christian diary tells us we have come into the Easter season, the period of time after Jesus had risen from the dead.  I thought I would talk a little about why Jesus stayed with his disciples for 40 days until his ascension and had not ascended immediately.   To begin with the disciples had been very afraid and had no idea what to do.  But when Jesus appeared among them after his resurrection, their lives were changed, the greatest miracle in all history had just taken place: Jesus Christ was alive.    During those 40 days, He appeared to various groups of disciples and followers who believed in him, proving beyond doubt to them that he had been raised from the dead by the power of God. Jesus also stayed on earth to teach His disciples and prepare them for the task of telling the world about Christ. The Bible clearly states that after His resurrection Jesus repeatedly appeared to His disciples over a period of 40 days, and then miraculously ascended into the presence of God. The Bible says, "He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight" (Acts 1:9) Last month’s magazine letter from Val Foster about the Ukraine Appeal was extremely moving, but that appeal should not be a one off, those poor people are suffering beyond measure, every day more information appears via our news outlets of war beyond imagination, The St Albans Diocese are also running a Support Ukraine Appeal.   Summer is just around the corner, for me it’s time to get out into the garden, to trim back where necessary, replace what has not weathered the winter and to get to the garden centre. My favourite task is preparing my poor wind damaged greenhouse ready for this year’s tomato plants.  Tomato plants are such fast growers, from the time the first tiny plant is sown to picking the first fruit is not more than 3 months.  I love being in the green house with growing tomato plants and tomatoes, the smell is fantastic.  Summer is holiday time as well, we have rather missed out for the past two years, but now it seems as if life is getting back to some form of normality and to judge by the number of planes flying over our back garden more people are heading away again, so if you have plans to holiday this year, I wish you a wonderful time and please do appreciate the beauty of our wonderful world.  But not forgetting for whatever reason those people who need help both at home and away. Many blessings.   Joy Galliers-Burridge