As I am writing this, Christmas still seems a fair way off but it will be here soon enough. By the time you read this, many of us will be in the throes of buying presents, planning gatherings and preparing food. Some of us may be despairing at all the hype, the secularism and the flashy glitz and glamour that seem - for so many people – to be at the heart of this season.
Of course for large numbers of people across the world Christmas will be a day just like any other. The homeless will be hoping they may get a meal. Some people will be sheltering from bombs and gunfire. Others will be battling against natural disasters and climate change. Some may be sitting beside loved ones who no longer recognise them. In situations like this, where is the Christmas hope that we hear about year by year? Where is God for the hurting, the lonely, the rejected?
On our Christmas cards, we often see images of a charming and cute nativity scene. It all looks very clean, cheerful, calm and ordered. We think of those people key to the Christmas story as being special and worthy. But this sanitised version of the Christmas story is so far from the truth. It was a young, unmarried girl who carried our Saviour. Jesus was born into a dirty stable, surrounded by noisy and smelly animals. Mystics from the East were the first to acknowledge the importance of the star in the sky. Lowly, outcast shepherds were the first to be invited to see the baby. A marginalised town was chosen as the place where Mary and Joseph would raise the Holy Child.
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:2-7)
That first Christmas God came down to a broken and hurting world. He came to ordinary people, to the overlooked and rejected. He came to the mess and the chaos. And this is exactly why we should have hope! We don't have to have the perfectly decorated tree. We don't need a huge pile of presents. We don't need shopping trolleys full of food and drink. But we do need open hearts to welcome in the love and salvation that only Jesus can offer.
I pray that you will know God's peace this Christmas.
Nigel