Shropshire bishops offer message of hope this Christmas

On Christmas morning, church bells will ring out across Shropshire announcing anew the birth of a Child in Bethlehem: the Saviour who was born for us (Luke 2:11).

This is news of great joy to be shared by all people – and the bright sound of those bells brings this joyful announcement to everyone, whatever their situation in life.

Christianity is not a cold theory or a harsh moralism – it is a message of joy and hope for all humanity.

In the dark winter days around Christmas, it is a joyful message that can touch and cheer our hearts.

At the end of 2016, amid the many shadows and uncertainties in our world, Christmas once more announces the glory of God in whom is found indestructible goodness and truth.

However, there has been a danger of a strange silence falling over this land which has recently led the Prime Minister to urge Christians never to be afraid of speaking freely in the public space.

Mrs May insisted that our Christian heritage is something of which everyone can be proud, and Christians must "jealously guard" their right to speak publicly about their faith.

The Prime Minister is doubtless conscious of the strange phenomenon of local authorities and public bodies who fear that even to mention the word "Christmas" might be a cause of offence.

Somewhat more sinisterly, people have told me how they feel increasingly inhibited or even intimidated in their places of work when speaking of their Christian faith and how it shapes their conscience and values.

In a country founded on the Christian faith, it is a terrible perversion of political correctness that would so intimidate people from speaking of Christianity – the very faith and moral path which has shaped our way of life.

In 2017, as we seek a new place in the world and an identity transcending any shallow nationalism, it is surely this Christian heritage that can again securely found our values and light the way for the future of our society.

If the Christian voice were silenced in the public square and Christianity no longer shaped our laws, what would be left to uphold our human rights and dignity?

"Be not afraid" was the message given to the shepherds on the first Christmas night (Luke 2:10).

This is the new courage the Gospel offers everyone.

May we too, like the shepherds, never be afraid to speak of what the Lord has made known to us and of the joy it brings.

When the Earl of Shrewsbury first commissioned the building of a new Catholic Cathedral on the town walls of Shrewsbury, he intended that his famous architect, Augustus Pugin, would construct a great bell tower.

Its bells would have complemented others across the town, both ancient and new.

In the end, the site only allowed a single bell to ring.

This single bell may serve to remind us that we have each been given one voice which we can use for the good.

A voice that can be raised with both confidence and respect, as we share with our contemporaries the hope found in the birth of a Child in Bethlehem.

May 2017 hear Christian voices being raised as clearly and brightly as the bells ringing out so happily each Christmas morning.

An atheist was writing an article for Christmas to prove that God does not exist.

He wanted to finish his article with the sentence: "God is nowhere!"

However, the sub editors made a mistake with his copy and so the final sentence of his article stated: 'God is now here!'

This is the heart of the Christmas good news.

We celebrate that God came to us in human form, as a vulnerable baby to a young woman called Mary.

In very ordinary circumstances, Jesus was born in a particular place – the small town of Bethlehem on the edge of the Roman Empire and at a specific time – when Augustus was Emperor.

St John says: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us".

St Matthew retells the words of the prophet: "The virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel" which means 'God is with us'. God is now here.

For many this is unbelievable.

Surely if God was to reveal himself to us he would just rend the heavens and come down.

Indeed, a philosopher said: "Some people seem to think that it would help if one day there was a large banner displayed in the sky saying, 'I'm up here, you idiots.'"

But God seems to work not by breaking into the world but by embracing the world from within.

In Charles Wesley's carol, 'Hark the herald Angels sing', we sing the lines: "Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel".

Take away the traditional 'man' language and we see that God delights to be human alongside human beings.

This carol tells of a God who does not have to be lured down from heaven by us being very polite to him or behaving extra well.

We are dealing with a God who can't help himself overflowing, boiling over into the world that he has made.

This is a God who doesn't have to be persuaded to be interested in us.

Perhaps a first practical exercise in prayer is to approach God with this in mind: he is interested in us.

Christmas teaches us to dispel the idea that God is essentially bored with us, rather removed from us and always in need of being kept sweet.

He does not have to be persuaded to be on our side.

As a former Archbishop of Canterbury said, "You might as well try to persuade a waterfall to be wet."

In Bethlehem, God comes to us in the weakness of a baby.

A lifetime later, at Calvary, he appeals to us in the helplessness of a man nailed to a cross.

In Jesus, God beckons to us not by force or command but in solidarity and by identifying with us.

He longs for us to recognise him and go to him.

God is now here.

He values our humanity beyond all imagining.

He shares our struggles as well as our joys.

'Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.'

God is with us.

God is for us.

May you know the blessing of his presence this Christmas.

"I wish it could be Christmas every day" – the words of the familiar song blared out across the station.

"Well I wish it could be Christmas every day,

"When the kids start singing and the band begins to play.

"Oh, I wish it could be Christmas every day,

"So let the bells ring out for Christmas."

I enjoyed it. The mood of the music was just right in the run up to Christmas.

I am not sure, though, I would have wanted to hear it next week.

I was reminded of people who are sometimes featured in the news and who keep their Christmas decorations up all the year and have a turkey dinner every day.

Well, each to their own, but it doesn't appeal to me.

I don't actually wish it could be Christmas every day.

But there is a sense in which it is, thankfully, Christmas every day.

One of the names given to Jesus is Immanuel, as in "They will call him Immanuel, which means God with us."

And that does apply every day.

As I look back on the last year, I reflect on the enormous significance of "God with us" in good times and bad.

Whatever your circumstances – rejoicing in lots that is positive, or carrying all sorts of worries and difficulties – it is the Christmas message of "God with us" that I believe offers reassurance, hope and encouragement for the future.

There is much that is pretty worrying in the world at the moment – in Europe, USA, the Middle East, you name it, everywhere there is turmoil.

But the truth is that there has never been a Christmas when the message of "God with us" has not come into a turbulent world.

Indeed, Christmas started when Jesus came into a world which was no more peaceful and straight forward than ours is today.

Being "God with us" was not something he did from a safe distance.

Jesus is described in the bible as "the image of the invisible God".

You want to know what God is like?

Look at Jesus – at his birth as a baby and then at his life and death, and we begin to see true strength coming through weakness, gaining coming through losing, in short, love conquering all.

If you look up achristmasnearyou.org you will find details of dates and times of Christmas celebrations in a church near you.

Happy Christmas!

Since my inauguration as Bishop of Lichfield at the end of September, I have so enjoyed meeting the people of this vast diocese, and visiting churches and communities in such a wide range of places – from the Staffordshire moorlands to the Welsh borders, from the Potteries to the Black Country, small villages, big housing estates, inner cities and market towns.

Everywhere I have been, people have been warm and encouraging in their welcome.

For me, unlike for Mary, Joseph and Jesus, there certainly has been room at the inn.

The Midlands are what hold our country together, and Midlanders are the best people you can find anywhere – Genuine, hardworking, and with a great sense of humour.

We are very different from one another, thank God, and I have had the great privilege of meeting people in very different places.

They include asylum seekers at the Sanctus project in Stoke, chicken farmers in Shropshire, winemakers on the border with Worcestershire, young prisoners near Lichfield and children all over the place.

I have been thinking of that as I live again through the Christmas story at this season – local shepherds, homeless refugees, eastern scholars and Roman officials who all have their part to play.

And they all come together in the stable at Bethlehem, just as a huge range of people will be coming together in our churches this Christmas.

There is room for everybody – See www.AChristmasNearYou.org for your local services.

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, my prayer is that God may bring you joy and hope this Christmas.

We live in this part of England in the heart of the ancient Kingdom of Mercia, which means "the land of the borders" (the "Marches").

Geographical and political boundaries criss-cross one another here, but so do lines of difference between people – ethnic and cultural groups. Christians, Muslims, people of other faiths and of none, urban and rural, young and old, rich and poor, and so on.

Last year, it felt at times that those differences were hardening into divides, as anxiety, resentment and, on occasion, hatred were expressed with less and less restraint.

My hope for 2017 is that it will be a year to cross boundaries, to take the risk of walking across the road, of stepping outside our comfort zones, of responding to those who are different to us with the kindness and generosity which we know we can show.

As a Christian, I believe this is the way we are meant to live – it is the way that Jesus lived, and the way our churches try to model.

We often get it wrong, but we know that at the heart of our life is a commitment to reconciliation across all boundaries.

That is the way the first bishop of Lichfield, lived – he walked about everywhere in Mercia, inviting those he met to join him as companions on a pilgrimage in search of a better kingdom.

My experience of walking in friendship and trust with those different from me has always been that my life is enriched by their generosity.

My hope is that our world and our society may be a kinder and less-divided place next year.