This last week has involved lots of walking which has been a really lovely way to get to the know the parish, keep fit, and meet people. I have been delivering Christmas Cards. On Tuesday, after going to Park View Care Home, with children from St. James, for a carol service, I met up with my daughter, Amelie, and we delivered cards to many of the community groups in the area. It was a great way to meet some new people, such as Simian at Bethel Apostolic Church on the High Street, the receptionists at Colwell Music Centre, and Sam at the Nelson Trust’s Common Ground community garden. On Wednesday, I delivered some more, meeting the Assistant Head Teacher at Al-Ashraf Secondary School, and an English teacher at the Ukrainian Association. On Thursday I decided to drop some flyers about our Christmas events into local houses. I only had a limited number of flyers and didn’t want to give them to families that might not welcome them, so I came up with the idea of only knocking on doors with Christmas decorations. Out of about 20 houses I only had one person not want a leaflet (and even they took it eventually!) Again, there was a lot of good conversations with families new to the area and old-timers who are good friends of the church community. Hopefully all of this outreach will encourage some local people to discover the Joy of Christmas with us at St. James this year.

The Joy of Christmas is not something to be kept to ourselves. Increasingly, it can feel as if the commercial and secular ‘traditions’ of the Christmas season have left little room to share the good news that Jesus, the light of the world, brings peace, hope and joy for ALL. Whilst I enjoy the more secular traditions such as Father (or Mother) Christmas, it is important for the church and followers of Christ, to be a still and joyful heart beating at the centre of the celebrations. A heart that reaches out to everyone, especially those who, like Christ, are born into poverty, on the margins, as refugees, or who have no place, no room within society.

My hope and prayer for each one of you reading this is that you will discover this heart of stillness and quiet joy within you. That you will have enough space in the busyness of the Christmas Season to know that Jesus, the light of the world, is born in you this day.