We wish all our readers a very happy Christmas.
How are you spending it? Have you seen, read or experienced anything which might help others? Has it meant anything particularly to you this year? All reflections welcome – sweet, bitter and bittersweet.
Midnight mass with the small Anglican congregation in the next town. Enthusiastic congregational singing was the highlight. Today we had the neighbors and their children over for Christmas dinner.
This year, there is an empty chair at the dining table, and there is a mixture of sadness and hopeful thankfulness. This pretty much sums it up.
Kind comments by parishioners in their cards greatly moved me, to tears actually. But as I am on the brink of 70, I wonder how much longer I can carry on, in fact it is a question that asks itself each day. I know that Christmas has been made grossly material and indulgent and trivialized (see for example British Telecom advertizing something called Giftmas, as if there was no problem in eliding the holy name). And yet. And yet. Each year I think we glimpse something of why Christianity is so special, something that explains why ‘the heathen rage’because they envy this, a glimpse of God among us, God with us, God gently touching our heart-strings and calling us back to a simplicity and a trust.
I put a note in the church newsletter inviting anybody who would be on their own to join me at the festive table and lo, ten of us sat down to demolish turkey and the usual fare of the season. A cross-section of ages, we enjoyed each other’s company. Deo Gratias.