Newsletter for December

Letter from the Vicar for December  (The full  newsletter for December 2011 can be opened in pdf format by following this link.)

Dear Friends,

One of my most vivid memories of past Christmases was one spent in Cologne many years ago.  On Christmas Eve I set off with a group of friends to attend Midnight Mass in the Dom – the great Cathedral in the centre of the city.  Our route took us past the railway station where we found some of the city’s homeless people getting themselves ready for the long night ahead – attempting to keep warm in their makeshift beds of cardboard, newspapers and old blankets. 

We were lucky enough to be able to escape the freezing temperatures outside for the relative warmth of the cathedral. There we couldn’t help but be struck by the incredible contrast. We joined the well-fed, the well-clothed, the comfortable to celebrate the birth of Jesus – God coming and dwelling amongst us.  And yet the birth we were celebrating that night was not just for those crammed into the Cathedral – it was as much for those left in the cold outside the station. 

In the first chapter of St John’s gospel we find those marvellous words:

‘The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ 

They are words of hope and promise for each one of us, and for our world, because they reveal a God who cannot be detached from his creation, but was born amongst us as that baby in Bethlehem – our Lord Jesus Christ.

It was to this world that God sent Jesus to share the whole of our human experience – our joys, our sorrows, hopes and dreams, pain and darkness.    It is there we behold glory – the glory that speaks to us of love.

Wishing you all a blessed Advent,  a joyful, wonder-filled Christmas, and a peaceful New Year.

Joan H.