I was staggered this week by the Pope’s latest Apostolic Exhortation. He has written Sacramentum Caritatis in which he explains how the faithful can preserve the sanctity and dignity of the Mass.

It’s 131 pages long, so let me bring to your attention just two areas for the Catholic faithful to preserve the sanctity and dignity of the Mass.

Firstly, he orders a dramatic improvement in the standard of liturgical music and for an end to ‘musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy’. He goes on, ‘We cannot say that one song is as good as another.’ Nothing controversial yet, but he then demands that ‘Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy’.

And secondly, he demands, in order ‘to express more clearly the unity and universality of the Church’, the wider use of Latin in the Mass and the common prayers.

Does Benedict XVI realise that we are living in the 21st Century? Well, yes he does, but whether we agree with his plea for Gregorian chant or Latin, we do agree with his desire to promote the sanctity and dignity of worship. Within that, we must hold to the essentials of the Gospel, for they are unchanging, but the presentation of it must remain firmly rooted in present life, firmly relevant to present life, firmly distinctive to present life.

As we look back over 2006, another year of God’s rich and yet undeserved blessing upon us, we can rejoice in the unchanging Gospel that unites our hearts, energises our hopes and inspires our ministries. And we can rejoice in the God of gods and Lord of lords, whose unchanging faithfulness and whose constant grace has so undergirded his work among us and beyond us.

Our reading today (Acts 14:21-28) covers the end of Paul’s first missionary journey. We read of how the church members were gathered together to hear a report on what the Lord had done (v.27), how Paul and Barnabas, his companion, had strengthened and encouraged the believers (v.22) and how they had appointed people to continue the work (v.23).

Just like Paul and Barnabas we are gathering to look back on what the Lord has done among us. Our Annual Report provides a helpful résumé.

However, let me highlight particularly for our encouragement certain key areas.

Our worship – it has been a joy and delight to watch Andy Sykes and Alex Mnatzaganian work together so profitably and so graciously for our glory of God through musical worship. We have larger teams leading worship, the encouragement of younger church members to come forward and a sense that often you don’t need to go to some big national event to hear and enjoy stirring musical worship.

I thank God for their ministry and those who help them. However, may I agree with them that their ministry and the ministry of all our musicians has been enriched and enhanced by the upgrading of the PA and AV systems, for which grateful thanks go to Simon Platt and his team and Tim Robb and his team.

Our teaching – 2006 saw us looking at a number of topics, but most praise I heard was given for the teaching on Peter and his life (when I was away I note), and the powerful way the Apostles’ Creed is relevant to our lives today. I also believe that the series on giving last summer was greatly used by God as our annual accounts give testimony to. This church is indebted to all who preach and especially to those who do so in their spare time, so to speak.

Our fellowship – I am constantly amazed but I shouldn’t be at how many people, and especially new people, say that this church is friendly, welcoming and inclusive. This is all your work. We are all under an obligation to welcome the strangers in our midst and I thank you that this is exactly what you do, and testimony after testimony tells me of that. You are truly wonderful people.

Our evangelism – we ran two Alpha courses last year and from both we have a post-Alpha course. It is exciting to hear the stories of lives changed and of renewed faith. When it is the right time, I long to encourage these people to share their stories with you. Our Confirmation service is often a key marker in the lives of these young disciples, marking that moment when they can truly stand and say, Jesus is Lord.

Our social action – I know that many of you are quietly and graciously involved in serving others in the many organisations within this town. But it also occurs to me that this Church’s work, among young parents through Morning Out and with the more elderly through Lunch Club, is a powerful ministry of practical action and service, and greatly appreciated.

We can therefore give thanks to our God for the work and ministry he has laid before us and the inspiration and gifts he has given us as a church to fulfil his purposes. I must say on your behalf a huge thank you to Tim and Julie, to Jo, to Sherilyn and Colin, and to the Chris and Mary and their families, all of whom have had a strategic impact on the life of Christ Church in 2006.

As we look ahead, we must keep in mind our mission: to enable everyone to become a mature follower of Jesus Christ.

As a church, we are looking at our buildings and how useful they are for our use and our community’s use. We are looking at our services and sensing that some greater flexibility in timings is required if we are to offer the opportunity to as many as possible to worship our God. This is the 21st Century and we must fit flexible, busy 21st Century lives.

We are looking at our children’s and young people’s work and thinking of ways we can effectively disciple the many whom God has given us.

But our vision is not just to disciple those who regularly worship here, but to reach out to our community. Our mission is to enable ‘everyone’ not just ourselves to ‘become mature followers of Jesus Christ’.

I look at the many young families who come to our buildings through pre-School and Morning Out but who don’t yet worship with us. They are coming to us already, they step inside our buildings, there will be some among them whom God is calling to be his followers. What opportunities we have here to influence our community.

As we reach young families, so I am conscious that not enough men worship and serve with us Sunday by Sunday. We need to find someone with energy and vision to create a ministry to men, to encourage those with us, but to reach out to those yet to serve the King of kings. There are great opportunities, but can we grasp them?

And I am aware that within our Church life, there is a gap. We have children, teenagers, young families, the middle aged and the elderly, but not a vibrant growing group of students and young adults to enliven and enrich our church life. We have a university campus on our doorstep, a welcoming church, and a great opportunity to develop.

2006 is another year for which we can only give thanks to our gracious God. Our God is unchanging and he calls all of us to follow him, to be people that he can use to enable everyone to become mature followers of Jesus Christ. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.