WHERE has 2015 gone? It only seems like yesterday that I was enjoying my Christmas dinner in 2014! However, time flies by and here we are at Christmas once again, writes Club Chaplain Paul Johnson.
I wonder what Christmas is like in your home?
For Rach and I, we go to our Christmas Eve service at tea time, enjoy a meal with friends and then a couple of drinks before settling into a Christmas movie and bed.
Christmas Day begins with opening presents, before spending the day celebrating with family – usually including a game or two of Balderdash and feeling very full, after eating enough food for a week!
Back in summer, we went on holiday to Kos. We witnessed, first hand, the refugees on the harbour and even had the privilege of helping some young families to safely leave a boat that had landed on our hotel’s beach.
It was never scary or intimidating. Rather, it was very sad and challenging to think about the daily life of somebody for them to leave everything and take their chances in a dinghy on the open sea.
It got me thinking about the end of the Christmas Story – the bit after the Wise Men have gone home. The bit where Mary and Joseph, fearing for Baby Jesus’ life, flee to Egypt and stay there until things have settled down back home. The bit where God became a refugee!
This Christmas, let’s give a thought to those who will be displaced from their homes. Let’s remember those who don’t even have a home. Let’s be on the look out for our family, friends and neighbours, who may need somebody to lift their heads and make Christmas fun for them too.
I believe that God loves it when we celebrate. Christmas is meant to be good fun and a time to enjoy being together with those whom we love. Although Jesus wasn’t born on December 25 , it is meant to be a birthday party!
So, have a fantastic Christmas which is filled with love, laughter and joy. May 2016 be your best year yet and let’s shout the boys on to an incredible season! Not long left to wait now!
