With apologies to Becca for oversight in posting this extracted message from December’s Church and Village but still well worth reading here if you missed it. Ed.
From the Vicarage
How are you preparing for Christmas? Well – there will be plenty of glitter and glue, fun and food in our household as we prepare for Christmas this year as I’m sure there will be throughout the village, maybe less glitter for you?! At Church too we’ll be preparing in a number of ways: contemplatively with our Christian friends in the village at our Taize service on the 7th December, and then creatively through Creative Advent which starts at the Vicarage on December 4th, and carefully at the Christingle on Christmas Eve!
All our other services, along with our Methodist and Catholic friends’ services, are listed in the Church and Village magazine and will besent to you via our Christmas card. It will be wonderful to celebrate Christmas together with you this year if you are able to join us at any of the services and events we will be holding.
Whilst we will undoubtedly enjoy lots of sparkle over the coming month and into the New Year, I know that for many this time of year will be hard for a variety of reasons. In fact, there was certainly no sparkle at the first Christmas until the wise men turned up offering their gift of gold which incidentally was a long time after the event! However, along with that gift, the wise men also offered frankincense and myrrh which indicated the kind of life and death Jesus would have.
I believe Christmas is a special time to rejoice in the coming of Jesus into the world – Emmanuel, God with us – and it’s that I hold on to along with whatever the season may bring. I remember at the age of 5 desperately wanting a Mr Frosty Machine, and being devastated that I didn’t get it on the day – clearly that memory still lingers strongly! Older, and hopefully a little less fixated on what’s under the tree, I’m aware disappointment is still a very real experience at Christmas for many, not least in this age of austerity when pressures of creating a perfect Christmas lie all over the place, especially in the media.
That’s why I’m grateful for the fact that although I love the party, I hold on to the reason why we’re celebrating at all. And once the tinsel is packed away and the sparkle disappears, I hold onto the fact that this baby born in a manger and into poverty, grew to identify with us all, whoever we are, and whatever we have, and became a saviour offering hope and love, light and life, and for that I am deeply thankful.
With much love this Christmas,
Becca