December 2011

December 2011

Dear friends

I’m really pleased and grateful that a dozen of us have agreed to construct 6 tableaux for the ‘Christmas Experience’ and/or to be a host at a tableau when juniors from our school visit them this month.  You will remember we tried this as a pilot project two years ago when we welcomed just one class.  This time, we are welcoming 6 classes (with their teachers) one at a time, with approx 5 children visiting each tableau for 8 minutes or so.  The ideas for all this come from Gloucester Diocese and are being used up and down the country. ‘Christmas Experience’ is as good for our children most of whom are Muslim as they are for other children. Please pray for us and them!  The tableaux will remain in position until 8 January when we shall celebrate Epiphany.

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DECEMBER EVENTS

3rd, Saturday, in our School, 10.30 – 12:  Mothers’ Union Coffee and           

                                               Mincepies, with Raffle and Bring and Buy

4th, Sunday, 10.30:  All Age Holy Communion

                                   with Sunday School Awards

8th, Thursday, opposite Debenhams at Spindles, 5.45 pm:

         Carol-singing with ensemble, with other Churches

8th, Thursday, ‘Grand Venue’, Featherstall Rd, 6.30 pm:

          Festival of Light – Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews.

                                      Free tickets from me, order by 4 December.

10th, Saturday, All Saints’ Church, Langley, 9.30 – 1.30 pm:

           Advent Quiet Day with Bishop Mark & Revd Sue Morgan

18th, Sunday, 6 pm: invite family, friends & neighbours to 

                                    Christingle Carol Service with mincepies

Christmas Eve, 8 pm (not 11 pm): Holy Communion with carols

Christmas Day, 8 am: No Holy Communion

                             10.30: All Age Holy Communion with carols

New Year’s Day, 8 am: No Holy Communion

                              10.30:  Holy Communion with poems

                        Happy Christmas – Andrew Dawson

Andrew Dawson has … One way of putting it

Imagine what winter would be like without Christmas!  Maybe you think there would be no office parties, no stockings, no roast turkeys, no presents and no puddings?  Well, you’re wrong!  I’m sure people would go on making merry in December.  For, in fact people did make merry in December before Jesus was born.  The different peoples of the continent of Europe made merry on the longest night of the year, the winter solstice.  They prayed to their gods to bring back the warm sun of the spring.

But imagine what life would be like without the truth of Christmas, if the Creator of the universe had not been born a human being.

Without the historical fact of Jesus, we would have much less evidence for believing that God exists at all.  Belief might be a matter of personal taste:  ‘I’ll believe what I want to believe, and I’ll let others believe what they want to believe.’

Without the historical fact of Jesus, it would be harder to believe that God cares about us:  if I suffer, what would God feel about it, all- powerful Creator that he is?

Without the historical fact of Jesus, it would easier for us to take advantage of those weaker than ourselves .  If they are not of the same stuff as Jesus, made in the image of God, they would be of value to us only they were of use to us financially, and of use to us in our relationships.

If Jesus had not been born to a teenage girl who was almost an unmarried mum, if Jesus had not been born to a craftsman, it would have been hard to believe that God can make himself known to all of us. Instead, we might have thought that God reveals himself only to Vicars and other people who look holier than us or to those who read lots of books or watch BBC2 or Channel 4.

If Jesus had not been born in a stable full of animals, if the angels had not come to the shepherds and sung praises with them to Jesus,  if God had not guided the wise men through their astrology, we would not have known how much God rejoices in family life and the birth of babies, in the giving and receiving of presents.

If Jesus had not been pursued by King Herod, if he had not had to escape into Egypt, if he had not been crucified on a Roman cross, we would have realised how vulnerable God is.  Instead, we would keep our own injuries and resentments to ourselves, for fear that if God knew the whole truth about us he would reject us.

Life would be very bleak if the event which Christmas celebrates was not true.  But it is true.  There is more evidence for Jesus, that he lived in Galilee 2000 years ago than there is for the existence of any of the Roman Emperors.  And there is overwhelming evidence both that Jesus was killed on a cross, and that he was raised victorious over death.

What do you do with your frustration and anger when things go wrong? Do you off-load your emotions on to your spouse or partner?  Onto to your children, your boss, your work-mates?  On to yourself, or Life in General?  When we blame ‘Life in General’, we blame him who created Life in General.  When we blame ourselves or some other person, we are blaming him who created us or them. This is the way in which God makes himself known to those of us who want him:  he has made himself vulnerable in Jesus.  He allows himself to get hurt.  He takes the blame. He died of it.  But he was raised undefeated .  He is alive – alongside us, willing to listen.                     Happy Christmas!