A Christmas 2023 message from Bishop Rachel to clergy, lay leaders and all in our worshipping communities.
I wonder how many of you will be involved with a nativity play this year.
There’s all the organisation, the allocation of different parts, and the need to create new parts so everyone can join in. And the togetherness can be great but so can the tensions and some are happy with their role and others wished they had a different one. It’s often exhausting, and there’s excitement, anxiety, tears, and laughter , and of course, people are invited to come and see.
Who knows exactly how it will all unfold: a shepherd might cry; or worse still the innkeeper might say a flat ‘no’ to Mary and Joseph; and some of the angels might get hidden by the staging, or the wise men may forget their gifts. There’s so much that might seemingly go wrong, but so much which will be beautiful, fun, even life-changing…
It seems to me that many aspects of those nativity plays resonate with a lot of what we live in our LIFE Together across this diocese, as we seek to discover and share life in all its fullness found in Jesus Christ.
Thank you to those who lead and organise, and all who participate in different ways — whether it’s about our worship, or the activities which engage with people and places in your context – seeking the flourishing of children, young people and adults, and the flourishing of place and creation, thank you. And thank you not least to those who take on a particular role even when you’d rather have a different one.
And thank you for nurturing faith in one another in that desire to invite people to ‘come and see’ through who you are in your places of daily life, whatever your age or story: That desire to grow in faith as disciples of Jesus Christ in places of work and leisure, different places of learning, caring, creating, playing… The places of the mundane and the special; the places of brokenness and the places of healing and restoration, as we say to all people ‘come and see’.
As with those nativity plays it’s been another year of laughter and tears; of excitement and anxiety; of energy and exhaustion; of togetherness and of tension; of contentment with role and wishing roles were different (whether in the gathering of church or in daily life). Sometimes things have surprised us beyond expectation, and sometimes it all seems to have gone wrong, and sometimes the angels have been hard to see, and sometimes the gifts have been forgotten.
But in all of this let’s not forget the baby – not always much of a feature for the audience of the nativity play. The baby is often a passive add-in, simply to be held by the right person at the right time. But here’s the mysterious paradox: That baby held in the play, is pointing us to Jesus Christ — the living God who actually holds us.
So often, as with nativity plays, we can feel as if it’s all up to us – as if the church is all our responsibility, and as if the coming in of the kingdom of God is held within our hands. Yet Christmas is all about God who comes to be with us in Jesus Christ. The one whose Church it really is; the one in whom things hold together; the one through whom God’s kingdom is coming — who longs to hold us.
Someone might let go of the baby in the nativity play but you can be confident that God will never let go of you.
Whatever your age and story, thank you for being part of our life together as the Diocese. Thank you for inviting people to come and see — to know life in all its fullness.
This Christmas amid all you are holding, may you let God hold you. May we recognise who God is and let ourselves be held.
Have a peaceful and hope-filled Christmas.
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