Activities | History | Nurture

December 2023 Magazine

stjohnstmarkchurchburyWednesday, November 29, 2023

Please find a link to our December 2023 Magazine which also covers January 2024 too. A paper copy is available in both of our churches.

In this edition you’ll find details of all that’s going on during Advent and Christmas and into the New Year. There are reflections and prayers and updates from many of our groups. There’s also news about the Transforming Prayer Community.

In addition, there is this letter from Rev Keith Trivasse…

The Word made flesh

December is a very busy month.  There are three seasons in one go.  There is the remnant of the season of Remembrance, followed by Advent with the culmination of Christmas.  And there are three different colours, beginning with red for the remembrance of the saints, moving to purple for Advent, then we have the culmination of white for Christmas.  And the hymns change.  In Remembrance-tide we sing For all the saints.  In Advent we sing Lo, he comes with clouds descending.  And at Christmastide we sing Once in royal David’s city.  The hymns change according to the seasons.

Let us begin our examination by looking at the season of the Kingdom, dominated as it is by Remembrance Sunday.  The Kingdom season is a time of remembering.  We remember the dead and give thanks for their lives.  We remember the saints, giving thanks for their witness to God.  We remember those involved in war and we pray for peace.

The remnant of the Kingdom season lasts for only a few days before we move into Advent.  In Advent, we are waiting and searching and getting ready.  In Advent, we are waiting for the coming of God and his Kingdom.  We are searching for God’s Kingdom.  We are praying that we may be made ready for the coming of the Kingdom of God and so we pray that we may be fit for the coming of that Kingdom.  Advent is a time of repentance, a time for us to be ready for the repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Full of grace and truth

Then comes Christmas, whose meaning has been obscured by the festival of greed and consumption.  We have lost sight of the meaning of Christmas, as children badger parents for the latest expensive toy or gadget.  Christmas is the time in which the Word is made flesh and dwells among us, full of grace and truth.  The Word of God is spoken in the coming of Jesus of Nazareth and the Word of God is seen in the life of an ordinary human being.  Jesus comes to us as a baby, vulnerable and hidden from the sight of ordinary human beings, as Jesus shares a life hidden in Nazareth.  As Jesus grows up, grows into the fullness of his calling, to be a preacher and teacher.  Eventually he falls foul of the political authorities and is put to death on the cross.  On the third day he is raised from the dead and enters into the glory of the Resurrection.  At Christmastide, we remember birth, death and resurrection all in one go.

In the coming of Christmas this year I am looking forward to a festival of peace and hope.  The world seems to have entered into a spasm of hatred and violence, which seems to have no end.  The war in Ukraine continues without respite.  The war in Gaza seems to have no end with countless bodies lined up to be buried.  As the Israeli forces surround al-Shifa hospital and aim to destroy what they think are Hamas fortifications, many civilians are caught up in the blood-letting and fury of the Israelis.

Let us pray that we may be peace-seekers waiting upon the peace of God and we pray that we may seek the Kingdom of God in all its ways and means.  May we find in Jesus, the Word made Flesh, that loving peace. Keith