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Page two Pax Christmas 2011 ‘Christmas
is coming the goose is getting fat please put a penny in the old
man’s hat, if
you haven’t got a penny a happenny’ll do, if you
haven’t got a happenny God bless
you.’ Every year, around about this time, the postman brings a number of letters appealing for money for various charities. How do you decide which to donate to. Do you give to charities at home or abroad, small or large, and then how much can you afford with all the other expenses of the season, cards to post to family, presents to buy, parties to go to, lunches and dinners to attend. So much to do and so much to decide at such a busy time of the year. And yet, at the time when we remember the birth of Jesus, the cause of all our celebrations it seems right that we shouldn’t be the only ones celebrating. So I do urge you to think how your giving this Christmas could be cause for celebration, near or far away. ‘However you dress it up Christmas starts with Christ’ – that’s the slogan that the Church has come up with, and it will be on the front of our parish Christmas cards this year. Please don’t hide them away. It’s a phrase that might seem obvious to you but in this day and age it isn’t obvious to everyone, and so it may be a way of opening up a conversation with friends and neighbours when they come around for drinks, meals or parties over the festive season and see the card in your home. If Christmas starts with Christ then what does it finish with – ‘mass’, and so all over the world millions of people will attend church services ,( Mass, Holy Communion, The Lord’s Supper depending on which denomination) and some will think ‘well that’s done Christmas for another year’ and almost the next day take their decorations down. In the church we like to carry on celebrating whenever there is such an important festival, so for us Christmas doesn’t really end until 2nd February, the day we call Candlemas when we remember Jesus being brought into the temple as a baby just forty days old, when we celebrate again a mass with Candles – Candle-mass. That’s the day I pack away my nativity set. Life is for celebrating, and the package brought to us on that first Christmas day came from God, not the postman, and is the cause for great celebration. For here in the manger we see the life who has transformed our calendar, our world and our hearts. So whether you have goose, turkey, or curried veg. enjoy yourself on Christmas Day, and help others to enjoy themselves -be they young, old, family or stranger. A very happy Christmas to you all and God bless you With love Revd Ann |
