God with us; God among us: God revealed.

God is rejected, forgotten, ignored, blamed and abused; the same can be said, oftentimes, for his followers. Our job as Christians is to call people to worship the living God and therefore to honour and glorify the one to whom all honour and glory is due. At Christmas we have a particular opportunity to divert people’s attention away from what is of fleeting value, to what is of eternal value. Contrary to popular thought, people are hungry to be fed and eager to pray and those of us who have seen the living God must share in the joy of pointing the way to others. We do not control or contain the glory of God; we do not know where he is or isn’t at work; but we do know what we comprehend together as faithful Christians and to that we must be true. Being a Christian has never been simple – there is no golden age of Christianity when everyone believed and everyone went to church. Faith is a narrow road and only a few walk it – but nonetheless, at the same time, there are always those who have an ear for faith who are ready to come and hear what we have to say. Our role then is to be the sort of people, together, who make that listening possible. In this church we open our doors to those who seek to be in the presence of something greater than themselves; in doing that we are honouring the holy and sacred nature of the God we worship. How might we make our doors wider and more inviting? That is the job that the Parish Church Council is endeavouring to undertake on behalf of the whole community of St Andrew’s. I give thanks for the ways in which I have learnt about God’s grace and generosity here during the past year and most of all I give thanks for you, for sharing with me in the work of Christ– blessings, peace and joy for 2016.

Christ Mass

Salvation might be about the simple act of noticing,

It could be that collective amnesia

Has given birth to nostalgia,

Which in turn encourages us to

Miss the point.

The shepherds and the wise men

Made a journey

And crowded in that little

Place, they saw.

Yet, the television speaks of

Disembodied festivity:

Joy emptied, to leave

Tinsel and technology;

What else is there to be thankful for?

Bodied, enfleshed, breathing, moving, crying,

Realness glorified

Actuality, made more real than you or me

God, emptied and re-filled

Made again and made anew

That we might be re-made

Filled up, meaning spilling over

Shiny things shiny

Because we are made anew

Comments

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