A Year Of Pilgrimage

Welcome to 2023, from the Kerith Bracknell team!

Simon’s opening message to all our Kerith sites this year was one of pilgrimage - the idea of going on a journey, often away from what we’ve been doing before - to deepen our connection with God and partner with him on his mission. We love these words from Deuteronomy, which Moses shared with the tribes of Israel as they neared the end of their 40 year journey through the wilderness from Egypt, and which Simon felt God applying to Kerith for 2023:

Then we turned back and set out towards the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir. Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.

Deuteronomy 2:1-3

Over the following two weeks after Simon’s message, we’re considering what that means for us as a Bracknell site and for us individually in 2023. We’re asking, what “hill country” have we been around long enough (and it’s time to leave behind)? And what does it mean for us to “now turn north,” as we journey on from Covid’s many impacts?

Whatever we come up with this year (and you can here some of those ideas in Ben & Beccy’s talk on 15th Jan), there are also some things God has done in us through the pandemic that we will want to take with us: We’ve loved the increased hunger for corporate sung worship we’ve seen in Bracknell over recent months; We’ve enjoyed bringing fun into our meetings as a family together; We’ve been blessed by an increasing diversity of people groups in our congregation and in our teams; And we’ve learned that the presence of people and the presence of God matter far more to us than any polished meeting experience.

What have you appreciated and you’d like to bring with us in 2023?

What needs to be left behind in 2022 or before?

What new opportunities or involvements might lie ahead for you as we “turn north”?

As we head into the year and continue to explore this theme of pilgrimage, we’re going to give plenty of opportunity for you to consider these things prayerfully and in community, in our first few weeks together.

Come with us, and let’s pilgrimage together - it’s time to turn north!