Bishops’ messages of goodwill at Christmas

The Bishop of Shrewsbury The Right Reverend Sarah Bullock says Christmas is a time for generosity:

“We three kings of orient are,

Bearing gifts we traverse afar

Field and fountain

Moor and mountain,

Following yonder star”

As part of the message of the first Christmas we hear that the wise men came to worship and to bring offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh – gifts often given to honour a king or a god in the ancient world.

The Bible tells us that when they saw Jesus ‘..they bowed down and worshipped him.’

They hadn’t worshipped at the feet of King Herod when they had visited him, but they understand that now they are on holy ground – here is the kingdom of heaven, revealed to them in a child.

Christmas is a time for generosity, and that is something we see all around us, expressed in a variety of different and significant ways.

The gifts we give do not have to be expensive or extravagant – sometimes the gift of time spent with a neighbour, a smile at someone we see on the street or a kind word can be just as meaningful.

Blessed

As we look forward to Christmas, why not consider ways in which you can share the joy with others in your community; why not undertake a ‘random act of kindness’?

I was recently very blessed to be on the receiving end of such an act of kindness when a friend delivered some delicious mince pies to my door – a completely unexpected but very welcome contribution!

I was delighted to see a number of suggestions shared recently. You might ‘pay it forward’ by paying for a coffee for someone at a coffee shop, leave a bunch of flowers on a neighbour’s doorstep, make a meal for someone – your thoughtfulness could be just what they need on a stressful day – or donate to a local Food Bank.

Just as we give, we should also be open to accepting the gifts of others.

In Jesus, God gives us the most precious gift of all and invites us to know and follow his only son.

Whatever your Christmas looks like, everyone is invited to the birth of Jesus. You too are welcome to follow the star this Christmas.

Wishing you a blessed Christmas and New Year.

Lichfield Cathedral this Christmas is full of selfies, writes The Bishop of Lichfield Dr Michael Ipgrave:

Thousands of children from across the diocese have drawn simple images of themselves, and these are displayed in a stunning installation suspended beneath the great central spire, the ever-moving faces swaying gently in the ever-changing light.

This beautiful artwork is called ‘Image and Likeness’, and it demonstrates very powerfully the enormous variety of our people in this part of England.

Over the last few weeks we saw lots of images of politicians, as they courted our votes for the General Election on Thursday 12 December.

On the morning of Friday, December 13, I wrote to the 24 of them returned to Parliament as MPs for constituencies across our diocese. I wanted to assure them of my prayers, and the prayers of churches across our communities, knowing as we do the heavy responsibility that now falls to them in their public life.

As I wrote, I reflected that they had been chosen to represent not just those who had voted for them, and not just those who were like them, but all of us, however different we may be and however much we may disagree with one another.

The divine image which we trace in one other takes endlessly different shapes. If we are to build together a society that reflects the richness of all our people, we need to learn how to build bridges across difference, to meet and greet one another in all this bewildering variety.

Hopeful

That is a big challenge, particularly after a bruising and divisive election campaign.

But it is vitally important for each of us to reach out to the people most different from us, to the people with whom we most passionately disagree, to the people whose lifestyles, viewpoints and cultures are most dramatically unlike our own, to spend time with them, and to see how together we can enrich one another’s lives and the lives of our society.

The thousands of selfies in the Cathedral are for me a sign of the hope that is given us at Christmas.

They are hopeful because they are images of children, belonging to a generation who should be able to teach us how to live together in friendship and respect.

They belong to Christmas, because this is when we see God coming among us to take up the wonderfully varied life of our humanity.

At Jesus’ crib, kings and shepherds gather together to worship, bridging divides of class, wealth, education, culture and nationality. Each of us can find ourselves in that scene, a child of God made in his image and likeness; and each of us can see that same pattern in those most different from us.

And at the centre of it all is the little infant in whom ‘God has spoken to us by his Son, the express image of his person’.

The Bishop of Wolverhampton The Right Reverend Clive Gregory talks about the true meaning of Christmas in his annual message:

My favourite Christmas Advert this year features an elderly man who is alone, except for his memories of happier times. We see him put on a Santa outfit, throw a sack over his shoulder and head for the local hospital.

There on the children’s ward, he brings joy to the children and their families as he delivers his unexpected gifts. He returns home, the doorbell rings and on his doorstep is one of the children and three nurses from the hospital who have brought him a gift. The delight on his face mirrors that of the children’s earlier in the day.

At the end, the advert reminds us of the work of the charities Make a Wish and Age UK which do so much for seriously ill children and those in later life who are in need of friendship or support.

Kindness

The advert is also a reminder that the true meaning of Christmas is reflected in thoughtful acts of generosity from people such as you or I, or groups we may be part of such as the Wolverhampton Bikers who delivered more than 600 presents to local hospitals last Saturday. Christmas may be a commercial bonanza but the best part for many will be the experience of giving or receiving loving, generous, thoughtful acts, on which no price can be put. In the advert, the faces of both the children and the old man lit up when they realised they had been given an unexpected gift, not after they had opened it.

For Christians, our amazing human capacity for kindness and love is due to being made in the image of our loving Creator. God’s gift of Jesus shows the extent of that love and Jesus’ life was the perfect template for how a human life could be lived. After a year when there has been much talk in our country of fear and division, it is all the more important that, this Christmas and beyond, each of us tries to find

practical ways to demonstrate that best version of ourselves, which cares more for giving than receiving, and which seeks to reach out to those in greatest need.