This picture has shaped my thoughts and prayers these past few weeks of Advent. Before you read on, dwell on it for a moment: I wonder if and how it speaks to you?It was a very simple brief that Bishop Andrew and I proposed for our Christmas card this year - 'a refugee mother and child’ - and we had no idea what would come back! But we were agreed this was a good risk to take, not least given that the art class which runs weekly at HMP Send (thanks to the Michael Varah Foundation and Watts Gallery) seemed to welcome our commission. It was Deborah who stepped up, researched the Afghan crisis and then painted this, inspired by and adapted from one particular photograph she found. Covid has thus far prevented the chance to meet Deborah, though we have exchanged messages. I declare her a theologian, instinctively even if unconsciously so! This Madonna captures the burden of responsibility, the marvel at a gift and the fragility of new life all at once - much as I recall for myself as a new parent. But this image then stretches me further, to relate to some of the dangers and horrors of the (Afghan) context: and even there, to glimpse beauty and to risk hope.‘So who is God? And what is God like?’ I'm sometimes asked. The incarnation offers a particular ‘photograph’ of God, that is utterly definitive yet as shocking to people today as 2000 years ago. Surprising expectation, God came as a child - powerless, dependent and vulnerable. There were the pains of child birth, the threats of abused power, and the dangers of red-zone travel. How come that the everlasting peace (of which the angels sang) could rest on so many uncertainties - today as 2000 years ago?Glimpsing beauty and risking hope are choices we take, not only in worship at Christmas, but in the struggles of our world today. But the uncertainty is over: God is with us in the birth of Emmanuel. Happy Christmas!Bishop Jo
Every year the number of people attending the Sunday service increases – from just 30 people five years ago, it is now attended by more than 300 – as Lynn continues to inspire festival goers each year with the Christian message. When the Buckle and Boots Country Music Festival was launched five years ago, Revd Lynn Boyle was appointed as festival chaplain by founder Karl Hancock, after he met her at his uncle’s funeral, where she officiated. Today, the festivals at Whitebottom Farm have have grown to be internationally recognised – attracting more than 35,000 people of all ages. At each festival, Lynn talks with people about the Christian faith and invites festival goers to seek her out to talk and for prayer at any stage during the music festival weekend.“One of the reasons I chose to work behind the bar is it provides a way to break down barriers, it’s a great starting point,” Lynn explained.“The challenge is that people tend to have preconceived ideas about clergy.“Some of my greatest conversations have begun as I’ve been pouring a pint and then progressed from there.“So many times, I’ve been asked the question ‘does God love me?’ or ‘how can God love me?“For me, each encounter is a precious opportunity to reach out, to share and to affirm.” Lynn has also shared stories of traumas in her own life to illustrate her faith, which she believes has given her “extraordinary strength”. Many of those who attend her Sunday service at the music festivals had never been to church before.“I always hope that sharing my own experiences would help others realise that they are not alone in what they are facing,” she said.“We have a God who will hold us in our pain and provide what we need and will never desert us.” Jacqui Noble, who attended the Sunday service for the first time in 2021, said:“I was not in any way religious, but I was very moved, and left reflecting and thinking” Sarah Ziggi Ward, who had not been to church since childhood added: “I didn’t know what to expect from the Sunday service, I decided to give it a go despite my apprehension. “I left with hope and a deep sense of gratitude.”Another festival goer, Claire Charlton, who described herself as “not particularly religious” said: “The Sunday service at Buckle and Boots is one of my favourite parts of the weekend, I come away feeling grounded and in a better place mentally.”Bishop of Chester, Mark Tanner, has said he is “absolutely delighted” with Lynn’s work. Although Lynn retires as Vicar of St Paul’s, Compstall on 31st December, after more than a decade in parish ministry, she is “definitely not stepping back” from her chaplaincy work at the Country Music Festivals of Whitebottom Farm. She added: “I will be ready and waiting to meet with next year’s 35,000 people!”
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours! (Luke 2:14)At Christmas we lift our voices to join with the angels in heaven’s song of praise. The account told by St Luke fills us with the hope and joy of God’s promise, now fulfilled in the incarnate Christ.However, for many Christian brothers and sisters around the world, particularly those who face persecution and oppression, much is against them finding peace amidst the encircling darkness. Many of us in good places sometimes may find it difficult to experience the presence of God in the course of our ordinary lives.But at Christmas, God breaks into the ordinary. He does not come as an Emperor or King – not as people would recognise, anyway – he comes born to ordinary parents, to live a ‘normal’ life. He doesn’t come as one with the trappings of power; he comes as one who saves and serves. He does not come as a warrior in this place of occupation in the Middle East; but as helpless child, wrapped in cloth by his mother.Yet, in the midst of this conflict and oppression, Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And in the middle of a humble stable, amongst shepherds - lowest of the low - who arrive empty handed, whilst the world continued its rotation through the night, this child’s face is the true glory and power of God. It is the foolishness of God to answer the power of darkness with a vulnerable baby in a war-torn country born to poor parents. Yet that answer is the true wisdom of God, for here God - invisible, incomprehensible, indescribable – is translated into a sign and a substantial reality that the simplest human being can grasp and before whom the wisest scholars find themselves falling in worship (I Corinthians 1:20).The angels who proclaim this glory in Luke’s Gospel overflow out of the Heavens. The triumph of what God has done for us cannot be contained. Let us too, no matter our trials and our challenges, continue to proclaim joyously as we remember the birth of our saviour: ‘Glory to God in heaven!’ Let us too, in the face of trouble and conflict, declare peace upon all who he favours! Every tear brings the Messiah closer!God’s favour is offered to all, not forced upon some. There is nothing we can do to earn this boundless grace of God. We can merely open ourselves humbly to receive it.Christ breaks into this suffering, complicated, divided world, and unites all of heaven and earth in wonder at his birth. I pray we too might share the same wonder this year: for through him we have been given salvation, we who could not save ourselves. And through him we have hope, who once felt hopeless and lost. Through him we are renewed in love for one another and may ourselves be living translations of the mystery of the Trinitarian God.Through the Christ-child we see God’s faithfulness. Through his Son, God has fulfilled his promise to us: we can trust in him and him alone.The early church father, St Augustine, writes:‘…let us be at peace with God: for justice and peace have embraced one another. Through our Lord Jesus Christ: for Truth has arisen from the earth. Through whom we have access to that grace in which we stand, and our boast is in our hope of God’s glory.’The glory is indeed God’s, not ours, so we have no boast but Christ. But may we be illuminated by his glory this Christmas, so we can shine as lights for him, witnessing with joy to him who has brought justice and hope, glory and peace.This Christmas, my prayer is that the joy of the extraordinary God may transform our ordinary lives. In his birth and life, suffering and death, resurrection and glorious ascension he calls us out of darkness together, and into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).In his peace and glory,The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
Christmas is a time when we think about the land of the Bible. We hear readings and sing carols that name Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem. These are places that are familiar to billions of Christians, whether they have visited them or not. But we should not romanticise them - and especially not this Christmas.Last week, leaders of churches in Jerusalem raised an unprecedented and urgent alarm call. In a joint statement, they said Christians throughout the Holy Land have become the target of frequent and sustained attacks by fringe radical groups.In a joint statement they described “countless incidents” of physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy, and attacks on Christian churches. They spoke of holy sites regularly vandalized and desecrated, and ongoing intimidation of local Christians as they go about their worship and daily lives.The Romanian Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem was vandalized during Lent in March this year, the fourth attack on that holy place in a single month. During Advent last December, someone lit a fire in the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsamene, the place where Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified. Usually a place of pilgrimage for Christians from around the world, it’s thought the vandal took advantage of the lack of visitors due to the pandemic.These tactics are being used by such radical groups “in a systematic attempt to drive the Christian community out of Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land”, the Jerusalem church leaders said in their statement. It is for this reason that when you speak with Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem today you will often hear this cry: “In fifteen years’ time, there’ll be none of us left!”This crisis takes place against a century-long decline in the Christian population in the Holy Land. In 1922, at the end of the Ottoman Era, Christians in the Holy Land were estimated to number 73,000; about 10% of the population. In 2019, Christians constituted less than 2% of the population of the Holy Land: a massive drop in just 100 years.In Israel, there is some increase in the overall numbers of Christians. The imminent reopening of St Peter’s Anglican Church in Jaffa, which has been closed for over 70 years, is encouraging.But in East Jerusalem, the central place for pilgrimage and the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - where Christ is believed to have been crucified - there is steady decline. Church leaders believe that there are now fewer than 2,000 Christians left in the Old City of Jerusalem.This is the land that 2.5 billion Christians worldwide recognise as the birthplace of the church. Yet Christians, who have been a continuous presence there for over 2,000 years, are too often obscured and even forgotten beneath the competing perceptions of the geopolitics of the Middle East. The Christian presence punches above the weight of its numbers.A recent study by the University of Birmingham estimates that the tourism industry generated by the Christian heritage of the Holy Land brings over $3 billion into the region’s economy. The Palestinian Christian population is a highly educated population that contributes beyond its numbers to high-tech industries, hospitals and church-based schools. Christians are good news for the region!Christians in Israel enjoy democratic and religious freedoms that are a beacon in the region. But the escalation of physical and verbal abuse of Christian clergy, and vandalism of holy sites by fringe, radical groups, are a concerted attempt to intimidate and drive them away.Meanwhile the growth of settler communities, and travel restrictions brought about by the Separation Wall, have deepened the isolation of Christian villages and curtailed economic and social possibilities. All of these factors have contributed to a steady stream of Palestinian Christians leaving the Holy Land to seek lives and livelihoods elsewhere - a historic tragedy unfolding in real time.It does not have to be this way. This trend can be reversed - but action must be taken fast. We encourage governments and authorities in the region to listen to church leaders in their midst: To engage in the practical conversations that will lead to vital Christian culture and heritage being guarded and sustained. The time for action is now!Over the Advent period, it’s tempting to be seduced by cosy visions of the Christmas story - twinkling stars, exotic visitors, a painless birth of a baby who doesn’t cry. The reality would have been much different: this is a story of God’s embrace of humanity in all its messiness.The first Christmas tells us of God coming into our world among ordinary lives of human struggle. It foregrounds a refugee family, against the backdrop of a genocide of infants. There’s not much about lullabies and cuddly farm animals.So let’s get real this Christmas. When we sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, or “Once in Royal David’s City”, let’s hear the voice of the church of the Holy Land - and thank them for their gift to all of us. Let’s pray for their flourishing and their future: a future intertwined with the future prosperity and common good of all communities.Woven through the first Christian story is a message of hope and of good news for all people - a small light that can never be put out. Whatever your religion or belief, may you know the peace and joy of the Christ-child this Christmas. <em>The Most Revd Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury</em><em>The Most Revd Hosam Naoum, Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem </em>
