Simon's Christmas video includes a a new carol which Simon has translated from the German. It is sung with the Abbots Bromley and Blithfield (events) Choir. There are also photos from the various churches taken during the Advent season, including the Christmas Lunch at Colwich.The video is available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/1tDF4OliwOs.
‘Do you know what I really want this year?’ A pause, perhaps a sigh, and then, in case I didn’t know it already, the answer, ‘Just an ordinary Christmas.’ Just an ordinary Christmas. Well, at the time of writing, there is every prospect that Christmas 2022 will be largely free, for most of us at least, from the restrictions and uncertainties of the last two years. Yes, this year will be ordinary, except, of course, for those who will be painfully aware of empty places at the festive table. Just an ordinary Christmas. The phrase set me thinking. What is it we are hoping or longing for? What is an ‘ordinary’ Christmas? Is mine the same as yours? Do you have a Christmas Tree? Does yours have an angel or a star on top? Just an ordinary Christmas. I’ll be able to travel, to spend Christmas with the family, for the first time, perhaps, in two years. Or perhaps the family will be coming to me, as they have always done, and are expected to, until I hand over the responsibility to the next generation. Just an ordinary Christmas. The strange thing is that the first Christmas was far from ordinary. Mary and Joseph may have travelled to Joseph’s home town, but it wasn’t to visit relatives. They welcomed visitors, shepherds, not friends, who had been sent by an angel to greet a baby, born to an unmarried mother. Sometime later, there would be other visitors, wise men, guided by a star, bringing extraordinary gifts. The travelling, the angel, the star and the gifts were all because at the birth of Jesus; the arrival of the God of heaven on earth as a human being. The birth of the Son of God, who would live, die, and live again, that we might share in the peace and glory of heaven. A most extraordinary Christmas to everyone!Mark Davys (Associate Minister)
