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Dear Friends,
COMMUNICATION AND CHRISTMAS
Most of the problems we encounter in life, are, in many cases, down to bad communication .... misunderstandings, sometimes born out of us hearing what we wanted to hear, rather than what was actually said! We are also often guilty of speaking too much, and not simply listening; "even the dull and ignorant, they too have their story" runs the poem 'Desiderata'.
The story we engage with this month is The Greatest Story Ever Told, the coming to humankind of God Himself, in the person of the Christ~child, Jesus.
The communication of this stupendous fact was, of course, heralded by the prophets of the Old Testament, then by an angel to Mary, that she would give birth to the Saviour of the World. We remember this event on Lady Day, 25th March. John the Baptist announced that he was not the Christ, but as Isaiah had prophecied, a voice that cries in the wilderness, "make straight the way of the Lord". He was communicating the news that the angels had announced to the shepherds; God's messengers playing their part in salvation history.
It was left to the 3 kings or wise men, to actually carry the news, from Bethlehem to the world. At Epiphanytide, the 12th day of Christmas (the date when the Eastern Orthodox Church actually celebrates Christmas), we remember that they journeyed back to the east, by another route, to avoid Herod, who would have suppressed the news, along with his infanticide designed to remove the rival monarch. That they succeeded is our great joy, the Gospel was 'made manifest' to a world in sore need of his healing forgiveness and peace.
'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us' records St John, and it is this coming to us in human form, God's identification with us,that is the hallmark of our faith. God became real, and through His Holy Spirit He continues to be real; the practice of our religion is not to hide Jesus in words and songs, for that would be to reverse the very intention that God had. We need to face Him in our daily lives and in our prayers, and to remember why He came in the first place to save us from our sins, and to be our advocate in heaven, and to bring us to eternal life.
My prayer for you this Christmas, is that this truth may be communicated to you, not only by the annual rehearsing of the traditions of Christmas, but at a deeper and more meaningful level, as we listen again to the message of the angels of God.
May you and your family, wherever they may be, have a joyful and blessed Christmas,
With love,
The Revd Mark Haworth Vicar and Rural Dean of Fordham
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