Christmas message from Reverend Margaret Smith

Christmas message from Reverend Margaret Smith, chaplain for Rochdale town centre, Police and Armed Forces Associations.

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I am honoured to be asked to write a Christmas message once again and I have thought hard about what to share with you this December.

I do not know about you, but this year I have some very mixed feelings about Christmas. As I have been carrying out town chaplaincy duties, I have appreciated the shops all decorated for Christmas and the range of choices for present buying.

At the same time, I hear about families struggling to make ends meet and unable to buy the basic necessities so that anything else is an unobtainable luxury. TV and magazines are full of ideas how to celebrate and make Christmas parties extra special from amazing drinks and food, to decorations.

Yet the news is full of the ongoing conflicts that makes it almost impossible to imagine peace on earth, goodwill to all people being a reality any time soon. I saw Michael Morpurgo (children's author - War Horse) being interviewed and he said that hope and reconciliation were at the heart of the Christmas message and should be be and will be attained. He made the point that we sing about hope and reconciliation in carols.

We may sing about them but do we practice or work for them?

Before training for ministry I was a children's nurse. One December, a colleague of mine had a very challenging Christmas Day. We still wore nurse’s hats (yes, it was a while ago) and we were allowed to decorate them for Christmas with tinsel, cotton wool and tinfoil.

This particular shift a very seriously ill child was admitted: all the staff were focused on doing all they could. Sadly he was too ill and died. My colleague supported the parents and came alongside them in their shock, pain and grief.

Suddenly, my colleague realised that she still had her tinsel decorated hat on. She was devastated at how insensitive this must have seemed to the parents. Mortified, she apologised but the parents stopped her - it was the most painful time of their lives, but it was Christmas and their son had loved Christmas and all the lights and decorations.

The hat had even brought a small smile when they had arrived on the ward. Hope and reconciliation! Christmas could not be cancelled and other families should not be stopped from celebrating.

Joy and sadness - laughter and tears are said to be different sides of the same coin. It is a balance. Christian believe that the first Christmas gift was love - God’s love for all people and this gift was wrapped up in Jesus His Son.

God made an amazing world but He gave us the choice to choose to live His way with His help or the option to do what we wanted to however we wanted to. God knew that in all the difficulties that such choices would result in - human beings would make mistakes and wrong decisions and would need help. So He planned for this. Jesus! The name means God saves! A title for Jesus is Emmanuel which means God with us.

Jesus was born into a world that was messy - that knew of wars and fighting - into a country that was occupied by an invading army. Mary and Joseph were not rich and Jesus was born in the space were animals were kept. A tough start if ever there was. But as the famous carol states “so God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven.”

Yet there were celebrations - the angels had a party in the sky. The shepherds did not have the resources to give extravagant gifts but they gave themselves by leaving their sheep and hurrying to Bethlehem to see Jesus. He did get some exotic gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh from the wise men but these would have been gifts available to them. We can give what we have and if given in love then that is the best gift ever.

Jesus was a gift from God for hope and reconciliation between the world and God the Father and between each other.

When Christians first started celebrating the birth of Jesus, it was by a spiritual service of prayer, hymns and sharing the Bible accounts. It developed into spending time together at church and then at home.

Eventually it developed into the national holiday and celebrations that we know today. To celebrate the gifts of God’s love and of the birth of God’s Son and add to this - the love of family and friends - we do not need extravagant gifts and lavish meals.

What we need more than anything is the time and commitment to be with one another and for me as a Christian to honour God and to share His love and care for me with everyone I meet. And yes, I do like presents, turkey, chocolates - all the trimmings - but these are a bonus to the real meaning of Christmas.

I love singing carols and have many favourites but in particular this verse from a poem by Christina Rossetti:

“What can I give Him poor as I am

If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb

If I were I wise man I would my part

Yet what I can I give Him

Give my heart”

Give my heart! Hearts cannot be bought but they can be shared and given. Enjoy your presents and meals. Enjoy your time with family and friends.

Let’s pray for peace, live peacefully and share peace. My prayer this Christmas is that - just as God was generous and loving to us - help everyone to be generous and loving to as many people as we can and help everyone feel loved and cared for this December 2023.

Christmas blessings to you all

Margaret