Dear Friends,

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Christmas approaches and with it all the seeming busyness and preparation. The signs of the approaching season begin to be all around us – the trees and lights appearing in shops, streets, and homes. You may be busy writing cards and perhaps even that ‘annual letter’! As you prepare you will probably be looking back over the last year and its events for you and your family and friends, wondering what news to share whether in a brief message on a card or in a longer letter. It’s perhaps tempting to share the good news and gloss over the more difficult.

 
However, as we prepare again to celebrate the simple but great good news story of Christmas we are reminded that God entered the world in Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus did not come to a world where all was comfortable, sanitised and good; rather he came to a chaotic world, born in an occupied country where there was conflict and cruelty, poverty and struggle for many. Not so different from our world today where it seems the world and lives of others and ourselves can seem to be overcome by darkness, especially as we see so much happening which leaves us saddened and anxious. 

Christmas though is a real good news story then and now; the story of God breaking into the world in Jesus who comes as the everlasting Light of the world and whose light has continued to shine in all the darkness that does not leave the world; bringing hope, light, love, and faith to people’s lives, to our lives, at Christmas and every day into 2026.

With very best wishes to you and your loved ones for Christmas and the New Year.  

Deacon Jackie Fowler