Letters from the Superintendent – February 2026

“What is truth?”  Pilate asked Jesus (John 18:38).  Previously, John heard Jesus saying; “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)

Truth is a difficult word to pin down.  Please look on your Ecosia search engine (www.ecosia.org) for a definition, and there are multiple definitions of the word offered.  Roget’s Thesaurus expands this even more – verity, honest, fact, fidelity, correct, precise etc.

Early Christian faith was known as ‘the way.’  You lived a life that reflected the servanthood of Jesus, turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, loving others that Jesus could actually call you ‘friend’ (John 15:14).  In living the life you were living in a state of faith, of fidelity, of truth. Faith, to a large extent, is living in a way you perceive to be true, honest, correct.  This ‘way’ remains true today.

As Christians we live in the light of this faith that there is a God who created all that is seen and unseen, breathing the Holy Spirit into Homo Sapiens that we recognise this God and worship the unfathomable mystery that is God.  In the Judeo-Christian tradition there is that belief that each of us is glorious (Love Divine last verse), made in the Divine image, and in recognising Jesus as the Christ we are changed from Glory into Glory, living that life of faith with love Divine until we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.  Praise be to God.

February is a month I enjoy.  It is actually my birth month (60 this year!) but it is the truth of the cycle of life we witness in February.  In December we gazed from the entrance of Frodsham Methodist Church and saw rhododendrons out.  This is wrong!  They are May, not December, so imagine the reassurance of seeing the snowdrops coming out as they should in January, leading into February.  The crocuses emerge and at the end of the month the daffodil.  We recognise God and the wonder of the universe when ‘things’ are right and good and true.  Nature reflects the glory of God in following the seasons in the correct, true way.

Those rhododendrons showed that all is not well.  That part of the planet earth is out of kilter. Once upon a time this was called sin.  Things not as they should be, falling short of the glory of God.  This made the evening Wesley in Chester City Centre offered about Eco-Church so needed.  To care for the world God loves (John 3:16) is our priority.  The difference solar panels have made to Frodsham, not ‘just’ for cheaper electricity, but by opening whole new conversations around how to heat space in an Eco way and how we

can care for this world in more sustainable and just ways.  Life is always multi-dimensional and by exploring issues of relevance to the care of the planet and all, we step into the shoes of Jesus who showed us the way to live, loving all that is placed before us.

Indeed, at Frodsham, the Churches Together are running a Lent Course focussed on 6 issues of Justice, seeking to bring awareness of how we, as ‘the meek who inherit the earth’, can ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness’ knowing we will be filled with ever more of the God who encourages us to be a blessing in this world. (Matthew 5:1-10).

So as we feel the warmth of spring, the array of colour to come, the cacophony of the birdsong and the wakening of hedgehogs, let us strive to continue to live the Way of Jesus that people will recognise the Truth that transformation of lives and this world can make a difference to this world God loves so much, that he sent her one and only begotten son to save.

Gordon