Saturday, 21 November 2009

December 2009 Vol. 31 No. 12

The Reverend Glenn Martin writes:

Dear Friends

Christmas is always a great time of the year especially for children, and at least for most people!!

However, for some Christmas is a sad and lonely time. Perhaps bereavement, loneliness, financial insecurity, ill health, immobility, can all play a part in making Christmas a tough time for some.

Of course Christmas is glamorised on the television, in shops, etc. and many who don't feel that glamour feel isolated, remote and dispirited by the season.

We perhaps have to remember the origins of the Christmas story. Nothing glamorous about the a baby born in a stable, on straw and seemingly accompanied by cows, sheep and the like. A distressed mother and probably somewhat anxious father; this is the way Jesus arrived in the world according to the gospels.

Yes over two thousand years later Christians and non-Christians alike celebrate this birth at Christmas thinking again about the story of Jesus and the journey and birth in Bethlehem. A seemingly timeless story with a timeless theme. God arrives and lives not in glamour but in the very ordinariness of life and being human.

Perhaps when we get some time to reflect, and if we feel negative about this time of the year and the season, then becoming aware that God is in all things and comes in the very simplicity of my life, then just maybe the season might become more significant, real and personal.

The story says God enters into human life in a very real, powerful, intimate but humble way and we are reminded He does the same today for us all.

May the true spirit of Christmas be with you and whatever your circumstances may you find peace and love in your heart and life this Christmas time. Remember Emmanuel God is with us... maybe this Christmas you may have a time and opportunity to spend time in church or in quiet reflection and find afresh the Lord who dwells in the very ordinariness of your soul, being and life, and find a very deep and real way to celebrate.

Every Christmas Blessing,

Revd Glenn Martin

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