On 31st January 2026 I took part in a service which was long expected but still seemed to rush up in the final week. The closing service of the church in which I was member, Elder and Church Secretary – Trinity 51��Ƶ in Lincoln.

In some ways it was not a sad event – we were able celebrate the years of the life and work of our church with 130 members, friends and family of the church; to reminisce, to catch up with people who had travelled to be with us. It was though, the end of a chapter. A chapter that left questions and “what ifs”. When I heard people talking about the thriving clubs there used to be, how important it had been to get to the Christmas Eve service early if you wanted a seat, how they used to come to junior church when they were young it led to the question of why had things changed? Each church that closes has its own story. For us, it was partly younger generations moving away and all the members living at a distance from a city centre church whose only close housing is a gated community. We remained a friendly, welcoming church and older people who came to us would stay and become members, but we recognised some time ago that we had the problem that in the commercial world is known as succession planning. A capable and engaged membership and eldership were growing older and weary, not able to give as much energy to the church, not able to pick up tasks that others had done before them, feeling guilty about it and longing to come to church simply for worship.

The Elders started carrying out risk assessments during Covid and included financial and age-related matters. Those were the areas that continued to stay in red on our assessment. We gave much prayerful consideration to our future, took matters to the Church Meeting which also considered our future prayerfully and had the help and guidance of our Synod Transitional Minister. We reluctantly came to the conclusion that an orderly closure now, while we still had the resources and capability of doing so was the best course.

A great fear that our members had was the loss of contact with each other. While a good many of us are joining the Local Ecumenical Partnership in Lincoln – St Columba’s – a United Reformed, Methodist and Anglican partnership who are well known to us, and good friends, others will worship in the churches in the villages where they live. We will no longer have the weekly, or more, time to catch up with each other and that connection cannot and should not be lost. We still feel a pastoral responsibility for each other no matter where we worship. Monthly meetings have been arranged, and people will be able to meet each other with fresh news of their new churches and of the new chapters in their worship journey. As Trinity has come to an end the seeds have been scattered around Lincoln, and Lincolnshire, and we will still have much to offer the in service of the Lord.

Catriona Wheeler

Catriona is the current 51��Ƶ General Assembly Moderator (2025-2026). Read more on the General Assembly Moderator’s Blog.

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A difficult question – I had only recently purchased a new bible and had spent some time choosing a translation I liked in a format which I felt would be easiest for reading during services. The bible I chose then was a New International Version, which has the bonus of beautiful illustrations by Hannah Dunnett.

As part of the Stepwise course I had prepared an Excel sheet with various pages setting out my resources. One of the tabs listed quite a number of translations. Should I choose yet another so I could better compare texts, or should I request another commentary?

Bible journalling

I drifted round the internet looking for inspiration and discovered the world of bible journalling. I have heard of journalling before – for those who have not come across it, it is more than merely keeping a diary. Many of those who journal illustrate their notes, or create beautiful books in which to keep a record. Some will write or keep copies of poems or words of inspiration. I had not however come across bible journalling. I discovered that this is used as a way of studying and reflecting on bible passages or themes. Those who are artistic may add illustrations in the margins – they may be abstract, pictures or swirls expressing their emotions. Coloured highlighters and pens can be used for notes drawing on reflections on the passage, cross referencing to other passages. Each journaller will mark up their bible as best suits them.

I would admit that I am terrible at keeping a diary. As a teenager I probably had good intentions every January. By the time I reached my twenties I had long given up the thought of being so disciplined. My only real attempts at a diary in past years has been as part of the Stepwise Faith Filled Worship course. If I had not been told to keep a journal for that course I would have been unlikely to have done so. I did find it a useful way of reflecting on what I had learnt during the course and a time for directed spiritual thought.

Savour the year

The idea of a journalling bible appealed. When I became Moderator Elect, one message from a previous Moderator was to savour the year. I look forward to it as a way of meeting more people in the wider church, but I also look forward to it as a way of seeing God at work in the 51��Ƶ and beyond. I decided that a journalling bible might be a way of focussing my reflections during the course of the year and requested one as the bible to be given me at General Assembly. It is designed for writing in – wide margins and a good quality paper. I have armed myself with a multitude of coloured fine nibbed pens, pastel highlighters and sticky tabs. I am definitely not of an artistic persuasion, so I do not expect my bible to become a thing of beauty with delicate illustrations and bold calligraphy highlighting my notes. What I have done so far is highlight the passages used in the services at the end of General Assembly, at my more recent commissioning service as a Synod Recognised Worship Leader and from a recent set of lectionary readings. I have made notes of what was said with cross references to the other passages and some of my own thoughts. I expect to use this as one of my tools when preparing for services during the course of this year. I hope to look back in a year’s time and see a bible thick with notes (which I trust will still make sense to me) that will become a resource for the future and a reminder of the year’s encounters.

I will be interested as I meet people from around the 51��Ƶ to learn how many others do bible journalling and how they go about it.

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The General Assembly of the United Reformed Church has consistently called for peace in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory based on our belief that all people are created by God with inherent value and dignity.

The announcement of the “first phase” of a peace deal is dependent on further agreement and action by the State of Israel’s government and Hamas. We pray that it will be a turning point, with an end to killing and a beginning of a better life for all those who have been so badly affected by violence; losing loved ones, experiencing life-changing injuries and psychological trauma, being forced to leave their homes, losing livelihoods and the fracturing of communities.

True peace in the Holy Land will take much more than a ceasefire.

In recent years, we have sent groups from the 51��Ƶ to the Holy Land on visits to observe what life is like for Israelis and Palestinians. We have built relationships with people who live in the area.

Led by this, our General Assembly in 2021 recognised that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, forced house demolitions, and the acquisition of land by coercion are breaches of international law. General Assembly, therefore, urges the Israeli Government to abide by international law and reverse its de facto annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.

This year at our General Assembly, it was noted that despite previous moves towards peaceful solutions, “atrocities have continued”, citing the Israeli Government’s breaches of ceasefire agreements and the deliberate blockade of aid, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians.

We commend the World Council of Churches statement made this summer, which calls for an end to “apartheid, occupation, and impunity in Palestine and Israel”.

So, while we welcome the chance for peace and the end to suffering in Gaza, we will continue to call for pray and work for a true and lasting peace through dialogue and diplomacy, where the voices of those who have been most affected by the conflict are heard and respected.

A prayer: 

God of peace,

How long, O Lord, how long?

We give thanks for any lessening of gunfire and bombardment;
for fragile steps towards quieter skies over Gaza.
Yet we dare not call this silence ‘peace’.

You are the One who hears the cries beneath the rubble,
who weeps with the displaced and the bereaved.

You know that peace is not the absence of war,
but the presence of justice,
the sheltering of every life,
the mending of what once was torn.

Guard us from false assurances, O God,
from leaders who declare “peace, peace”
when there is no real peace. [Jeremiah 6:14]

Stir the hearts of those in power
to listen to the wounded,
to reckon with wrongs done
and to labour for a just, lasting and equitable peace
for all your children — Israeli and Palestinian alike.

Let swords be beaten into ploughshares,
let tears be turned to dancing
and let the Land once more be Holy;
a place where people and planet live and flourish in dignity.

Come, O Prince of Peace.
Make it real.
Make it last.
Make it just.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A congregrational version of the prayer for use in worship is available to download for free, here.

Main image: Chris Hearn/Unsplash.

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“I will, and all these things I profess and promise in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

With this induction affirmation, followed by promises by members of the General Assembly and prayers, Catriona Wheeler was inducted as the Moderator of the General Assembly 2025-2026, during an act of worship at the close of the 2025 General Assembly. The service was led by the new Moderator’s Chaplain, the Revd Jane Wade, Minister of Abington Avenue 51��Ƶ and the Northampton Area Churches Partnership. Jane also serves as Deputy Moderator of the East Midlands Synod.

The Revd Geoffrey Clarke, Moderator of the East Midlands Synod, gave the charge during the Induction of Catriona.

Called beyond comfort

The sermon reminded the Assembly of its dissenting roots, the weight of empty nets and the grace that calls us beyond comfort.

The members of your East Midlands Synod family are delighted in your appointment and will seek to pray for you and encourage you in this important role, Geoffrey began. He used a trio of striking biblical images: a furnace, a fishing boat, and a charcoal fire.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, standing before the threat of death, chose the costly act of dissent. Their refusal to kneel evoked the DNA of a church born from dissent: ministers ejected in 1662, voices raised in assemblies, Synods and church meetings throughout history. God’s presence was not outside the furnace, but within it. “Even in the furnace,” Geoffrey said, “God is with us.”

To the Sea of Tiberias, where disciples returned from a night of fishing with nothing to show. Nets once full are now empty. Or congregations once bustling now flicker with fragility. Yet on that same shore, the call comes to cast the net anew. “We need to be humble enough to discern the voice of the One who urges us to throw our nets in another direction.” He invited a different courage.

At the charcoal fire, Peter meets the risen Christ. Here is the mercy that follows denial, the confidence that follows collapse.

A member’s words at a Church Meeting stood as a parable: “If we call this minister the church will change, and it will not be as I’d prefer it to be. That is precisely why I will be voting for the call.” Someone yielding to God’s disruptive call.

The charge concluded with what is reported to be Francis Drake’s invocation to be disturbed: “When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little; disturb us, Lord.” It was an appeal not for reassurance but for disruption.

God is with us

To the Moderator, and to the whole Assembly, the message is simple and searching. God is with us, in defiant faith that refuses to bow. God is with us, when the nets are empty, calling us in new directions. God is with us, offering forgiveness and commissioning us anew.

The whole Church is invited to a faith that resists, reorients, and follows, even, and especially, when the way is unknown.

As part of the service, the Assembly read the Statement concerning the Nature, Faith and Order of the 51��Ƶ.

Inducting Catriona, the outgoing Moderator, the Revd Tim Meadows, declared: “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and representing the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church I declare Catriona to be inducted as Moderator of General Assembly. May you continue to walk in the way of Christ, following in his footsteps.”

Catriona signed the Bible of the General Assembly and was welcomed by the Assembly with warm applause.

About Catriona

Catriona Wheeler was elected as Moderator at the 2023 meeting of the General Assembly and will chair its November 2025 and July 2026 meetings.

Catriona was educated at Teesdale School, Barnard Castle, and read law at Birmingham University. An Elder and Church Secretary of Trinity United Reformed Church, Lincoln, Catriona has been the Legal Advisor to the East Midlands Synod of the 51��Ƶ since 1997, works as solicitor practising in the areas of commercial property, corporate law and charity law, and is a Notary Public.

Her late grandfather and late mother were both 51��Ƶ Elders, as are both of her brothers.

Catriona conducts acts of worship and is authorised to preside at the Sacraments and is a Stepwise student. Catriona has held membership in churches across three synods, Northern, Yorkshire and East Midlands and serves as a director of East Midlands Synod Trust and Chair of the United Reformed Church Trust.

Her hobbies include gentle cycling, with the objective of seeing places, choral singing with the Lincoln Choral society; K-dramas (Korean dramas), BTS (a South Korean band), knitting and crochet.

In its nomination, East Midlands Synod said that it was delighted to make this nomination, “having benefitted from Catriona’s wisdom and clarity of thought in meetings and discussions on many occasions and in different situations. Her ability to crystalise the thinking of the room and her pastoral sensitivity to all aspects of an issue are among her great strengths.”

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