Letter from the Chaplain – December

Sunday, December 7th, 2008 | Uncategorized

I wonder which community holds the record for being the first to put up Christmas decorations. Stratford upon Avon will take some beating, as the Town Council had them erected this year in early October!

Already we are hearing the dreaded sounds of ‘Jingle Bells’ and other such ‘festive’ songs, not to mention seeing racks of garish, jokey cards, often of dubious taste, on sale portraying ‘Santa’, snowmen and other such characters. Yes the festive season is upon us and the frenetic rush under way with many of us caught up in it – and certainly the shops are hoping fervently that in spite of the financial situation people will spend and spend.

I wonder what any of it has to do with the event that started it all. Where is Christ in all of this? For many sadly He doesn’t figure and the word ‘Incarnation’ is incomprehensible. As Christians we are facing a tide of secularism which is swamping the real meaning of Christmas and there is, I believe, an urgent need for the churches to regain it. The question is how? Surely it must begin with us. Each one of us is called to be a messenger of the Good News. Each of us is called to proclaim through our lives and actions that profound truth that in the coming of Christ and through His life, teaching, death and resurrection the world was changed and God’s love for His creation revealed.

We need to put once again Christ at the heart of Christmas and show to the world that through that child, born in a stable, the world is redeemed. Let us this Christmastide resolve as a Christian community to do just that and through our worship and shared lives show God’s love in our bit of the world.

May we all experience God’s Blessing this Christmas,

Reg Sweet

Chaplain

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