You are welcome
Dear All,
It’s that season again. I wonder what you make of these days leading up to Christmas? For the children, no doubt, excitement; for the adults often a degree of fearful anticipation. Just so many things to do, so little time to do it in, and the feeling, “Who have I left out?”
That’s the question that I want to address, because quite often people take for granted that the world has been radically changed since the first coming of Jesus Christ. Recently reading a trilogy by Robert Harris on the life of Cicero I was intrigued that the coming of Jesus Christ is mentioned as historically significant, alongside the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Only, Jesus continues to change lives.
This is because Christmas is to do with the living God. Not a historical memory, not an artefact or an institution, but about countless lives encountering the living God. I wonder if like me you have sometimes thought that a living composer was already dead. But then as you watch the TV prom the camera swings to that very composer chatting with the person next to them in the auditorium. And you realise that it would in theory be possible for you, yourself meet that person. This is the sort of surprise many have felt, only in even greater measure, when they have discovered it is possible to have a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ.
At our Carols on the Common on December 19 the Frenchay Church will be open, and we hope very much that many will come into the building. But we would be equally pleased if people got in touch with us inquiring about an introduction to the Christian faith, or a useful beginners guide to the gospel. We realise that good news is not just for the soul, but for the body too. And therefore, we very much hope that as part of a community effort our church can, by the time you read this, already be a warm space during parts of the week for people who lack heat in their home or company in their lives.
Wishing you a blessed at Christmas, where nobody is left out,
Reverend Charles.
