The Vicar's December Message

CHRISTMAS – always a view from a point

I’m sure, as you remember past Christmases, each has a particular colour or memory. It may have been a new birth in the family or a sad death; it may have been a time of especial security when work and family were prospering, or one of anxiety because of illness, unemployment or world events.

Each of the gospel writers, supporting the precarious life of the early church,  has very skilfully chosen a way of putting before us the birth of Jesus. They are telling us the story from a point of view,with the intention of convincing the reader that Jesus, born of Mary, is indeed the Christ of God.

Matthew, for example, uses some key words: Herod, wise ones from the east, star, troubled, ordered, killed, death, angel, and Galilee”. He’s keen to show us that this child Jesus was indeed the Christ because gentile kings came to pay him tribute – as prophesied in Psalm 72.10. He also shows us that when Jesus fled for his life into Egypt, his life was shown to be the crowning of the history of the people of Israel, who had found safety in Egypt in time of famine.

So what will Christmas be like for you this year? As ever, it will depend on the many people and circumstances in your life and in the world around. For some, however, it may be a time of worry.

At our November Diocesan Synod, Professor Fred Robinson (Durham, Northumbria and Teesside Universities) vividly portrayed our economic and social scene and the impact of changes in public policy. His picture of our turbulent times began with the unravelling of Northern Rock, the credit crunch, the possibility of a “double dip”, a sense that we’re living beyond our means, sluggish growth, and that, while for a few this means great wealth, for many it has meant increasing poverty.

He spoke of the possibility of 50,000 job loses in the North East, breeding uncertainty, an inability to see far ahead in “arresting circumstances that are difficult to deal with” but which produce feelings of grief and anger.

Are we choosing to settle for institutionalized inequality? Supposing, asked Professor Robinson, we had responded to these times with acommitment to a huge redistribution of wealth through raised taxes -but what politician would be that courageous?

One speaker movingly reminded us of the complexities we face: yes, perhaps there is too much bureaucracy, and too much dependency. But what happens to us all when troubled families, their support removed, begin to bring their troubles into the wider society?

These are complicated issues. However, another synod member bid us recall that the Church is not a politically socialist institution. We are all, he said, entitled to have our say and speak out our view from a point, but as Christians the Gospel is our foundation and the love of God our principal view point.

The coming of Jesus as a child in a vulnerable and politically dynamite moment in Israel’s history reminds us that God is always here in the thick of it. The Church of England purposefully organizes its finances so we can be in places where we can’t afford to be.

Others may abandon us, but God and his church are here to stay.

Most of us will have read or heard of The Big Society, one of the Government Coalition’s central ideas. The Prime Minister has described it as:

“… a huge culture change......where people, in their everyday lives, in their homes, in their neighbourhoods, in their workplace......don't always turn to officials, local authorities or central government for answers to the problems they face ......but instead feel both free and powerful enough to help themselves and their own communities… It's about liberation - the biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power from elites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street.”

As a Christian community here for the whole of society, how do we respond? We know that so many of us are already working for the good of our neighbourhood and watching out for the vulnerable and housebound - this is, after all, a key element of what parish churches do.

So how do we make sense of the government’s Big Society concept?

Bishop Martin has pointed out that a church with only ten members has as many points of view. So as we consider issues of church and society, we need to look after one another and respect where each of us is coming from, how our views are tempered by our own life experiences.

We don’t want to rush in with answers, but we do have a responsibility to begin formulating some questions and discuss them amongst ourselves and with others.  So where do we begin?

Well, perhaps we should ask how, as a mandate and a duty, we can keep God and God’s preference for “those who are poor” (Matthew 5) at the centre of the debate. And how we and other organizations can contribute to conversations that matter - such as the issue of huge salaries going to a minority.

Perhaps we should also ask how we, as a people with a prophetic voice, can move beyond outrage and use the influence of the voice of the Church of England – in education, through our charitable work, in the availability of our assets and buildings, and through all the places where each of us can make a difference?

In short, how can we be Salt and Light in rising to the challenge and opportunities of working with Christ in the world now?

On behalf of my colleagues at St Mary’s, may I wish you a peaceful and loving Christmas, secure in the knowledge that we are wonderfully and unconditionally loved by God and that he did this amazing thing in Jesus by being human with us as well as being divine. 

Your parish priest

Robin