Yesterday I saw a Christmas tree, (not quite as bad as the one the vicar saw on the 13th November!) lit and fully decorated, in a living room. As I write it is not yet December, the poppies have barely faded from our memories and there’s plenty of time to think about Christmas later – isn’t there? But…. We’ve had the Christmas Market, sold quite a lot of the new Christmas cards (have you got yours yet? they’ll be on sale on Sundays between now and 17th December), begun to think about decorating the church – see further on for Marilyn Brooks’ invitation to sponsor flowers over Christmas and – well, OK, maybe there isn’t as much time as I thought. But thank God, and I mean that properly, it’s not for us just a secular festival, just a round of food and decorations and present buying or sitting alone at home wishing we had a life such as we see on the TV adverts. Thank God we have God at the centre. Then we can enjoy the lights and the glitz knowing we have a whole family in the church to enjoy them with and something real to celebrate.
Our guests at the Night Shelter will be cared for at Christmas too as they’ll all be found places in one of the Crisis at Christmas venues. Then back to us for 3 Saturdays before they move on to another set of shelters for the weeks up to Easter. It’s a lot of work for the organisers but I have a feeling we’ll miss them.
if you’re one of the growing number needing the help of foodbanks you may not find any joy at all at Christmas – it’s a hard time for those living below the poverty line. Please read the reminder about their needs and how you can help with the Reverse Advent Calendar further on in this issue and, if you missed the first-Sunday-of-the-month collection in church, take some of the foods suggested to one of the drop-off points (Barclays Bank in the High Street is the nearest to the church).
If you enjoy carols then there are plenty of opportunities – you’re welcome to attend any of the school carol services listed in the diary and listen to a range of music, religious and secular. And of course we have our Christmas Lights concert when the Community Choir, the Hampstead Players, the Junior Choir and the Crèche ensemble (usually only heard in the crypt room on a Sunday morning) join forces for a joyful evening’s fun. No charge but donations invited for C4WS.
And if you really hate Christmas take heart, January is just around the corner.
Come, children, gather round my knee;
Something is about to be.
Tonight’s December thirty-first,
Something is about to burst.
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time-bomb in the hall.
Hark! It’s midnight, children dear.
Duck! here comes another year.
Ogden Nash
December
Judy East