Monthly Message (December 2006) - Religion at Christmas

Dear Friends,

The Post Office have been persuaded to produce religion free stamps this Christmas. The secular society we live in again puts forward its argument that no-body should be 'offended'. Take Jesus out of Christmas, this world of commercial pressures seems to say, and it will be more acceptable, more palatable, more fun, more of what everybody wants. But will it?

We are often reminded that Christmas can be the most difficult time of year for all sorts of people. Its messages about money, consumption, the idealising of family life bringing great pressures, and feelings of exclusion, to many people.

It was interesting to read recently that Muslim groups in Britain have raised objections to the removal of Christian imagery from the festival of Christmas ......

Before it was a Christian festival the dark days of mid-winter were celebrated with the feasting of the winter Solstice. The long nights and short days being when the earth seemed dead and the means of sustaining life were sparse, this was the time when people gathered to reaffirm and celebrate their hope that the year would turn and life, fruitfulness and warmth would return.

Our Christian ancestors recognised the story of Christmas as carrying echoes deeply in tune with those mid-winter celebrations - that hope can be reborn in this life's most despairing moments and a light is lit by the God who loves us even in the deep darkness.

Far from a 'perfect family story', Christmas remembers a teenage homeless mother who had to give birth in a stable where animals fed and slept, because the civilised world had no place for her. Far from a story of great public celebration, Christmas remembers a simple birth noticed by very few obscure visitors and the need to escape the 'official' welcome. Far from setting the world on the path to peace and quiet, Christmas remembers that this child who would grow up to challenge and unsettle the very roots of religious and political power, the causes of the absence of peace on earth.

All of this celebrated in the vulnerable child - a small symbol of hope in a big world. In the child Jesus, God risked our lowest moments, our darkest, hidden, forgotten places, and lit a spark of warmth, a promise that life in all its fullness and wonder can flourish in unexpected places.

Christmas challenges us to put the smallest and weakest at the centre of our search for, and faith in, hope for the world. A message that can still 'offend' those with comforts to loose.

Come to think of it..... you might not be able to fit all of that onto a postage stamp.......
...........but I hope that in our remembering and celebrating, the spark in the darkness, the life giving promise of God with us in this very real life, will be clear for the world to wonder at this Christmas.

Yours,

Tracey.