After the less-than-charitable Christmas message from the prime minister, I am happy to follow it with a more positive Christmas message from an old friend, the Rev. John Faraday, seen on the left in the photo below.
I am very grateful to Geoff for asking me to do a Christmas Message. Sadly when he didn’t receive my message he replaced me. Even worse, he replaced me by Boris Johnson! Actually, the mix-up is all my fault because Geoff asked me for my message a month or two back and it completely slipped my almost geriatric memory until I saw the replacement! I hope that Geoff will accept my late, late message.
Before I say more, perhaps I ought to give you some idea about who I am. I have known Geoff since about 1966. Our paths crossed at various times after that, like when I was 27 years old and newly married. Geoff was selling what (at the time) I regarded as extreme literature on Southport’s Chapel Street Station. When police appeared to shift Geoff & co I stayed with them for a few minutes, appalled that this could happen in our ‘free’ country. My political views were then right of centre, so I didn’t support Geoff through political persuasion!
I was then and still am an Evangelical Christian and since 1983 have been an Anglican clergyperson. Some will be surprised to hear that I also joined the Labour Party in appreciation of Jeremy Corbin’s direction. It seemed to me that his aim was simply to make the country work better for everyone, especially those who are worst off. (Though I do not agree with some of his ideas).
My time in the ministry in the Church, almost forty years, have convinced me that many people at the ‘bottom of the heap’ have no way of getting out. The holes they end up in seem to get bigger as they try to claw their way out. For me it was a privilege to spend a lot of my time in the poorer areas where I served with the people with the worst problems. Often the ‘professionals’ who worked with them from local or national government treated them as just ‘cases’, and forgot about them at 5pm.
The clergy lived amongst them! Our doors were opened at any time of the day or night. I met drunkards, swindlers and murderers. In those areas I also met many of the most genuine, honest people I have ever met.
Over the years many people have asked me questions such as ‘Why do it?’ ‘Wouldn’t you be better off using your abilities elsewhere?’ People have made statements like ‘We make our own destiny. The people in a mess get what they deserve!’
This is where the ‘Christmas’ side of the message starts!
God has an amazing love for people. Proud people, liars, cruel people, robbers, psychopaths, rapists, murders and Conservatives! He even loves you and me! Nobody gets everything right however hard we try, so when I meet a person, whatever their background I am never able to say ‘You are too bad for me to deal with!’ I am just one sinner talking to another!
When the Son of God came to Earth He didn’t wait for people to be good enough for Him. (Just as well! He would still be waiting). He came to experience our world, and He didn’t take the easy way. The ultra-conservative majority scorned His family situation. When he was about two years old His family had to flee from the bitterness of Herod the Great and went as refugees to Egypt. (They say that early experiences have a telling effect throughout life).
He was God’s Son on Earth, yet He was prepared to accept the worst that the world could throw at Him, as far as being crucified. Even on the cross He prayed that God would forgive His torturers.
Jesus rose again! He showed that human death does not have the last word! If someone trusts Him it should never be as if we say ‘I am good enough!’. On the contrary, we say ‘I am a sinner, & I’m sorry’. That is when God begins to change us. I never claim to be better than another person. (It is only a matter of degree- nobody is ‘good enough’.) It is us saying ‘I want to be more like Jesus.’ He is the only one who never failed!
So why is Christmas special to Christians? There are several reasons but I will just concentrate on one. At Jesus’ birth and in the months after we are told of two main groups of visitors, shepherds and wise men.
Shepherds were tough men who would fight a wild animal rather than risk the life of a sheep. They would have to do their share of night shifts and battling against fierce storms, and probably were not too well paid for their pains.
The wise men were unlikely to be kings(!) but they would have been rich worldly-wise travellers and traders.
When Jesus was born both were invited to meet Him. Both went out of their way to see Jesus and both benefitted from the experience.
I am convinced that God’s love for people today is as great as it has ever been. He doesn’t promise to make life easy (as so many sufferers from Coronavirus will tell you) but He gives life and the best direction for that life.
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