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Circuit Newsletter May 2026

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Beloved Siblings in Christ,

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Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

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And yet… the world does not always look like resurrection.

As I write this, I am looking out at trees that have quietly, faithfully turned green again. What only weeks ago stood bare, almost lifeless, is now clothed in abundance. Creation is doing what creation does; it is proclaiming resurrection without needing permission. The earth remembers what it means to live.

And we, too, have just walked through Holy Week: through cross, silence, and empty tomb. We have sung our Alleluias, declared victory over death, and proclaimed new life in Christ.

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But if we are honest, there is a dissonance.

For even as the trees blossom, parts of our world are burning.
Even as we celebrate life, others are burying their dead.
Even as we gather around tables of abundance, many are facing rising food costs, fuel pressures, and deep uncertainty.

The suffering of innocent civilians in ongoing global conflicts is not abstract—it ripples into our everyday lives. It shapes economies, stretches households, and weighs heavily on the human spirit.
So how do we hold this?
How do we sing “Thine be the glory” while hearing the cries of those still in Good Friday?
Resurrection does not ask us to ignore suffering.
It invites us to see it differently.
The risen Christ still carries wounds.

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This is the mystery we live in: that resurrection is not the absence of pain, but the transformation of it. The empty tomb does not erase the cross, it redeems it.
And so, in this Easter season, we are not called to a shallow joy that denies the world’s reality. We are called to a defiant hope; a hope that dares to bloom even in troubled soil.

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Like the trees.
They do not wait for perfect conditions.
They do not ask if the world is at peace.
They simply respond to the call to life.

And perhaps that is our calling too.

To be a people who:
- Notice the suffering, and refuse to look away
- Respond with compassion where we can - locally and globally
- Tend to one another in a time of rising pressures
- And still… choose to live, to love, to serve, to hope

Because resurrection people are not naïve.
We are witnesses.
Witnesses that even now, God is at work.
In quiet acts of kindness.
In shared meals

In communities that refuse to fracture under pressure.
In justice that is still being pursued.
In love that still shows up.
 

This May, may we be like the trees—rooted, responsive, and unafraid to flourish.

Even here.
Even now.

As we journey together in this season, I warmly invite you to gather with us at two significant moments in the life of our circuit:

“Being A Woman in God’s Kingdom” – Saturday, 6 June 2026, 10:00–16:00 at Barking Methodist Church

Superintendent Farewell Service – Sunday, 26 July 2026 at 16:00 (venue to be confirmed)

These will be sacred spaces of reflection, celebration, and community—do come and be part of them.

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With every blessing,

Revd Mmasape Thathane-Tyolweni
Superintendent Minister