FROM THE VICAR
There is something about Christmas which, perhaps more than any other event or time of year, brings people together. Although Christmas itself is a Christian festival, it doesn’t matter what you do or don’t believe – there is room for you, and cause to celebrate during this season. That is a wonderful thing.
Of course, Christmas last year was rather different to how many of us would normally have celebrated it. As I write this at the beginning of November, there is still uncertainty about what this winter will bring, and not a little nervousness. But I hope that whatever happens, we will still be able to come together and celebrate in whatever ways we choose. That might still need to be on a smaller scale than usual as we try our best to keep ourselves and those around us safe and well, but I know that we will all do our best to be festive as well as being sensible and thoughtful.
It is fitting that Christmas time seems to bring people together, because that is what the great feast of Christmas celebrates; in Jesus, God is with us in a very real and physical way. God and humanity are brought together in Jesus in a unique way, and because of that we are all brought together in God who loves us all. That is both a wonderful promise and a great mystery, in the true sense of being something beyond our logical understanding. It is also definitely worth celebrating. As we know from the very familiar Christmas story, told and re-told by young and old alike every year, that coming of God to be with us took place in a little town, in the humble setting of a stable. The first Christmas was definitely a small-scale event, but its impact was such that choirs of angels sang about it, and we still celebrate it two thousand years later.
So however this Christmas turns out, even if it is once again smaller than we would like, I encourage you to celebrate it as fully as possible. Let us come together as best we possibly can, remembering all that unites us with each other. Whatever your reasons for celebrating, and however you choose to do it, Christmas has room for you. God has room for you, and you are welcome. As that first Christmas reminds us, even little things can have a very big impact. So, this December, may God bless us in the big things and the small things alike – and may I wish you all a very merry Christmas.
Fr David