Dear Friends

Once more Christmas is fast approaching. I have lost count of the number of years when I have vowed to make less fuss this year, spend less, stock up with less food and drink and keep it less excessive. It never works out that way ! The fact is that most of us go into a kind of autopilot condition where we have the same food, same company, same rituals and the same lapses of dietary discipline. By and large, we do it this way because we like it and because the routine of everyday life needs its high-spots.

The run-up to Christmas is the season of Advent which this year begins on Sunday 28 November. Our rural group of churches will be holding a special service of readings and music at 6pm at St Mary’s Church, Kings Walden. We call it the Advent Carol Service because this is a section of the church’s year that is particularly rich in seasonal hymns. The theme is one of hope and expectation as we hear the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of a Saviour and, in the New Testament, the tale of Mary’s special task and the heralding witness of John the Baptist. The service directs our minds clearly towards the advent of the Babe of Bethlehem.

It is a sobering thought that the birth of Jesus took place in the Middle East not so very far from Iraq which at present is the scene of such savage barbarity. The prophet Muhammad was born a little later also in the Arab world. There is no intrinsic animosity between Christians and Muslims but there have always been those on both sides who have managed to stir it up. All the big world-religions have their extremists and Christianity is no exception. Even so the principal thrust of Christianity is one of tolerance and goodwill as is also the case with Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism etc. We should, therefore, remember in our Christmas prayers those who approach God by other routes and with different traditions. We surely pray that the peaceful spirit of the one God, whatever name He is known by, will be the most powerful influence in our troubled world.