Doing Christmas properly

I’m a great believer in a traditional Christmas. One in which the Advent wreath comes from the woods, the he Christmas tree is as large as possible and the lights on it are real candles.

My enthusiasm for tradition has of course been helped this year by our snowfalls creating those traditional Christmas card scenes and giving me the ideal opportunity to snowball the choir. In short, I believe Christmas needs to be done properly.


Now I do realise that on closer inspection many of our most cherished traditions have more to do Victorian Britain than first century Bethlehem. And therein lies the danger. For in our enthusiasm, we can turn Christmas into an ideal of yesteryear. Worse still it can become a child’s fairytale that could never true in any age.

To avoid such traps, to do Christmas properly, we need to pay attention to the details of what we have just heard in our gospel reading. So- who have we met? A Roman Governor, worrying about the state of the public finances. An anxious father, trying to keep a roof over his families’ head. A pregnant teenager, wanting the best for her child. And shepherds, struggling through the night shift. And then finally, there is a child born into poverty and homelessness. These are real people, facing everyday experiences. This, it seems, is no Fairy tale...

But the real surprise in this story is not how human they all are but that one of them is so much more. The real miracle is that on this Holy night, God became human in Jesus Christ. That same God who created us to be in relationship with him, who saw us turn our back on him in the Garden of Eden and who sent the prophets to call us back to him. This God now sends his son to become one of us.

And in doing so all those divisions are overcome, all that separates us from God is wiped away and we are re-united with our creator and renewed in his image. On this Holy night God made his home among us that we might for ever dwell in him. And as he shares in the poverty of our flesh so we share in the riches of his divinity.

So on this Holy night come- join with the angels in their praise, the Shepherds in their worship and Mary as she treasures all these things. Because if we are really to do Christmas properly, we must share in this Holy Communion through which we are once again reunited with Christ. For all of this was made possible by the mystery of Christ’s incarnation wrought for us and for our salvation on this Holy night.

Amen.

Shocking scenes in Westminster


On the news last night I saw four sights that I have never before witnessed.  The first shock was seeing protestors breaking-in to the Treasury on Whitehall.  The second was to see fires burning in Parliament Square and the final shock was to see members of our Royal family coming under attack. All of which is deplorable.

Earlier in the day I had tweeted that I hoped their would be a rebellion tonight but this wasn’t what I had in mind.  I was, of course, hoping that enough Lib Dem and Conservative MPs would rebel against the government and that the huge increase in tuition would not be passed.  Tragically, it was. 

As I watched Nick Robinson’s report on the government, ‘winning the vote in the chamber but losing the argument outside’, it seemed a bit of an understatement.  I am in the happy position of having three degrees.  I can’t help feeling that this is a privilege that few students leaving school this Summer will be able to enjoy.

My tuition fees were covered by my local authority for the first degree in Biblical studies, by a scholarship for the second one in systematic theology and by the Church for the third one in Pastoral Theology.  Now you are probably thinking that these are pretty useless and self-indulgent and I remember my father being uncertain whether I would ever find gainful employment.  But I did, indeed in the twenty-two years since I first graduated (is it that long?!) I have never been out of work.  Over that time these degrees have fuelled my imagination and have been the bedrock of a career in the voluntary sector, often in faith based organisations.


The vote last night means that students starting degrees in September are likely to graduate with a debt of around £30,000 (according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies) and will spend the next thirty years paying it off.  The NUS have led the way in pointing out that such debts will deter students from poorer background and that the mitigating strategies of government are unlikely to have a significant effect.  This is, of course, not really news and previous government reports have acknowledged that potential debts are a particular disincentive to poorer students, lone parents and ethnic minorities.

So this then was the fourth and most troubling thing that I witnessed last night- the privatisation of higher education in the UK.  To be more accurate it was probably the spending review on the 20 October that brought this about.  Last night, however, the reality hit home. 

For school leavers this Summer, I imagine fewer will consider studying for abstract degrees like theology, let alone higher degrees, and faced with huge debts they may well think twice before embarking on a career in the voluntary sector- supporting something called the big society.

Christingle Service 2010


Children, candles, carols and christmas, all in one fun packed service!

Of Gods and Men



A wonderful film exploring the dynamics of community, dialogue and struggle.