Comment by Harborough churches: A different perspective could be useful over the Christmas period

Rev. Andy Murphy, Methodist Minister in Market Harborough, Kibworth, Rothwell and Desborough.

Every week, the Harborough churches write for the Harborough Mail. This week, it is the turn of Viewpoint by Rev. Andy Murphy, Methodist Minister in Market Harborough, Kibworth, Rothwell and Desborough.

I hope you have had a Christmas of joy and many blessings.

It may have been perfect for you. You may feel that it didn’t quite work out as planned. Or perhaps that actually everything went wrong.

There is often great pressure to have a ‘perfect’ Christmas, with everyone on their best behaviour, and this can add to the stress and mean that things are more likely to blow up or boil over (like a boiling pan when you keep the lid on).

A different perspective could be useful. I know a lady in Kibworth (Celia) celebrating her 101st Christmas this year! In her lifetime, she has seen our country live through war and times of great hardship, many ups and downs, and the personal challenges of work and family life. 101 Christmases! If one of them is not quite as planned, there will probably be another one.

I know people for whom this year has been tragic or sorrowful, with death in the family, or bad news of life-changing illness. Sometimes it is these things (as one lady said to me after a diagnosis of cancer) that teach us to be more thankful for every day we have.

And at this time of year, I like to remind my congregations (and myself) that the first Christmas was far from perfect. The Nativity is a story where just about everything goes wrong – except the one thing that truly mattered! All of our desires for comfort, cosiness and luxury should be left shocked when we picture the young mother giving birth in a stable far away from her home or family, and then facing the prospect of fleeing for their lives. Christ came to us not in a warm home with nice food, but in poverty as a refugee. The love that he offers in the midst of it all should open our eyes to what is really important in God’s eyes.

Christmas Day is a special day, but if it wasn’t quite as planned, remember that it’s not the only day we’re given. There are actually twelve days of Christmas! Why not try to make the most of one of the other days? Jesus shows us the human face of God, and he is all about fresh starts, forgiveness, and what we call ‘grace’ – which is a blessing even when we don’t deserve it, from God’s unconditional love. If we’ve understood the message of Christmas properly, it should certainly be about giving and receiving grace in our own lives.

And then there’s the New Year… Perhaps a resolution could be to be thankful for every day we have and every person we love; or to find (or show to others) the grace that offers a new start.