December 2024
From the Rector
Bishop John in his letter to the parishes this year talked about finding calm this Christmas. My first thought was that it is a major challenge in so many ways. Ongoing conflicts across the world seem to be stuck in a gruelling cycle of attack and counter attack, with no indication the conflicts are calming. At home many people feel disillusioned with the state of the world. Many are struggling to make ends meet, others feel there is just not enough time to balance family and work life left alone the additional burdens of caring for older relatives of the wider community. In addition, at this time of year church life moves at a faster pace, with additional services, visits to be made and school assemblies to be delivered. It does not feel calm!

Silent Night, Mohr and Gruber’s famous carol reputedly first performed on Christmas Eve over 200 years ago, still provides a moment to quietly reflect on the transcendent moment of Christ’s incarnation. Through the inevitable trauma of labour and childbirth comes the time when all is still and we can sleep in heavenly peace, While the shepherds are quaking and the choirs of angels are singing, at the centre is he calming presence of Jesus. Jesus, who later would calm the storm, who would create time for prayer and solitude in the midst of his busy ministry and who would stand calmly defiant in the face of the persecution that led to his victory on the cross.

Calm, of course, is not the absence of activity. It is something more profound than that. Calm comes when, despite the frenetic activity of Christmas preparations and the chaos of life we know deep within our spirits that in Christ all is well, and all will be well.

This Christmas let us try and find some calm in our own lives and within our community. Let’s come together to hear a different message that speaks of calm, mutual respect and hope – not anger, division and despair. Lets heed the words of another famous carol “oh hush the noise ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing”

May the peace of Christ dwell in you this Christmas time and be your inspiration the coming year; Susan.