Dear Friends,

Just the other day I was having a good moan to a friend about Christmas coming. But he took me completely by surprise when he, a non-churchgoer replied emphatically, ‘I love Christmas. The family gets together and everyone at least tries to be a bit more Christian’.

Well, that was me put back in my box, wasn’t it? But he was right. Whenever the inevitable rows erupt over the Christmas period, there will always be one who tries to calm the situation by saying, ‘Let’s have a bit of peace on earth and goodwill to all men, please. Remember the Christmas spirit’.

And if a person is being particularly mean, you will hear someone say, ‘Let’s have less of the Scrooge and more of the Christmas spirit, please’. I am aware that Ebenezer Scrooge does not feature in the Bible, but he does sum up the very opposite of what Christmas is all about.

Many people will say that Christmas is about giving and forgiving; it’s about children, and families and friends being reunited.

Perhaps a lot of people in our secular society today don’t know that Christmas is really about Jesus. They may get a little confused about Father Christmas and Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, but most know what the Christmas spirit is about.

And when we come to seeing the Old Year out and welcoming in the New, we feel the need to draw a line under the past and try to make a better effort in the future. We may not get too far with our New Year’s resolutions, but at least we realise that there is room for improvement. Most of us inside and outside the Church know the truth of Christ’s saying about the spirit being willing but the flesh being weak.

What I am trying to say is that, although vast swathes of our nation have a hazy knowledge of the Biblical account of our Lord’s nativity, and probably rarely darken the door of a church, the main points have lodged in our heads. We all know that at Christmas we should seek peace and goodwill toward men. We should make the effort to keep in touch with our loved ones at Christmas, even if it’s just sending a card. At New Year we want done with the past and hope for a better future.

Aren’t all these thoughts and yearnings what Christianity is all about? Jesus Christ came to earth as a baby to bring peace on earth, goodwill to ward men (or ‘goodwill to all men’ as most people think the saying is). He came to mend broken relationships, to remove past guilt and to give each of a new beginning.

We all want this, whether we go to church or not. Why do we think it applies only at Christmas? And why do so many not realise that all these things they hope for can be had in Jesus? As the old Christmas carol says:
                        The hopes and fears of all the years
                        Are met in thee tonight.

Enjoy Christmas. Let’s all be a little more Christian. And may God who came down to us in the Christchild of Bethlehem bless you and keep you.

Very sincerely Yours