Dear Friends

I love Christmas and I especially enjoy sending our Christmas cards to family and friends. But somehow it feels a bit old fashioned sending cards in this world of technology, but I still enjoy doing it! Every year I try to find cards which depict the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus. But finding religious cards isn’t always as easy as it sounds. These days there are so many different cards to choose from with a vast array of different themes, words and scenes. The religious ones are usually hidden away somewhere or are found way down on the bottom shelf in the shop. They take some finding that’s for sure!

The reason I send religious Christmas Cards is to express something of my Christian faith. A faith which has its foundation in the birth of a tiny baby called Jesus who was born on the very margins of society. The story is full of characters; there are shepherds, the Magi (also called The Wise Men), Mary the mother of Jesus and her faithful husband Joseph. There are angels singing praises to God on high and King Herod, vengeful, the insecure King of Judea. It is a story rich with meaning on every level and it is a story which is as relevant for us today as it has always been.

For Jesus came to us as an ordinary human baby but a baby with an extraordinary secret, for this human baby was also fully God. As well as being fully man. A deep mystery indeed. And so Christians around the world will be celebrating this wonderful event in history. Here too across the North Meols Team, church services will be held to rejoice in the birth of this unique child, the saviour of the world. But this celebration is not just for Christians but for everyone.

Christmas gives all of us the opportunity to go to church and to join in with such celebrations. The villages in which we all live very often have at their centre the church building. Such buildings have stood the test of time and been places of gathering for generations, so this Christmas why not take time out from the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparation and come along to one of our Christmas services?

For Christmas remains a special time of year and gives all of us the opportunity to ponder afresh all that God offers to us in this tiny vulnerable baby, Jesus. His extraordinary story brings us hope and stability in a world in great turmoil and unrest. For Jesus was born into a world just like ours. By the time you are reading this letter I will hopefully have found those elusive religious Christmas cards and family and friends will have received

them.

Thankfully God is not elusive or difficult to find for God is with us always and everywhere. God’s love seen in the birth of a baby, seen throughout the life of this baby as he grew into a man, seen in his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, the love of God is there for each one of us.

Finally, here is a prayer for Christmas and for 2025 which you might like to say over the Christmas period; God of love, open our hearts and minds to the good and saving news of Jesus Christ; that those whose lives are insecure, empty, or aimless, may find in Jesus born in Bethlehem all that they need today and throughout 2025.

Amen.

So may God bless you and your families this Christmastide and throughout the coming year with love, joy and peace.