Dear friends,I had always considered the carol “In the Bleak Midwinter” a rather mawkish, anachronistic affair until I read acommentary that pointed out that it was written by a poet (Christina Rosetti) and that we should not think thatshe is getting carried away with the idea that the shepherds had to wade through snowdrifts in order to accessthe stable. There is, after all, nothing in Scripture that suggests that Jesus was born in the winter.

Rosetti’s idea is that we can expect Jesus to come when we are in the darkest places in our lives, wheneverything seems hopeless and when we feel a very long way from the fire of God’s Love. Moreover, therepetition of “snow on snow” conjures up a world made new again in the immediate aftermath of a snowstorm,when all that can be seen is the virgin snow. This is what Jesus comes to do: to make the world new again – towash away our sin so that we are whiter than snow.

Our response, she suggests at the end of the carol, is to give him our hearts.Rev Greg SmithRector of Pontesbury and Stiperstones

Thank you!To all those who have worked so incredibly hard in the build up to Christmas: churchwardens, vergers, singers,organists, sidespeople, coffee servers, cake makers, readers and many more.