Feel like cancelling Christmas?

 

Feel like cancelling Christmas? Maybe the early surge of Christmas mania leaves you feeling cold - perhaps sad. This year's Christmas celebrations are bound to be tinged with a certain degree of fear, if not disappointment. Can I hug my grandchildren? Well - no not in my case because our borders are tightly closed and they live across the sea. But can anyone hug their grand-anythings? Nobody wants to be the one who passed on the dreadful Covid-19 bug to the older members of their families. The British government may be declaring a 5-day break from the tightest of rules, but we all know that a spike of infections in January is no way to begin a 'happy New Year'.

And what of Christmas worship celebrations? No carol singing inside? Social distancing for any parents attending what Nativity displays may be put on? As the Prime Minister said 'T'is the season to be jolly careful!'

So do we cancel Christmas then? Not at all. This weekend we enter the season of Advent with perhaps more reasons than any since the Second World War to refocus our thinking on what really matters about the celebration. Of course we all love the trimmings, the glitter, the sense of being together, the food etc, but back of it all is the message that Christ came into a world full of trouble and sorrow. Born into obscurity, at a time of enemy occupation and oppression, to a couple facing major upheaval within a very short time of his birth.

The Christmas story is good news, but it is set against a backcloth of very bad news. All the children under 2 years of age in the district where Jesus was born were slaughtered by troops on a vicious blood-fest. He was only saved by his parents fleeing to an Egyptian refugee camp over the border. So, if you feel like Advent 2020 is coming at the wrong time completely, take heart. That's why Jesus came. To turn our despair to hope, and our distress to comfort and joy.

A Pandemic of Loneliness

 According to recently published research, in total, 45% of adults feel occasionally, sometimes or often lonely in England. This equates to twenty million people. Characteristics of people who are more likely to experience loneliness include: those who are widowed, those with poorer health and those with long-term illness or disability. 43.45% of the group reporting bad or very bad health are often/always lonely. There is no doubt that being chronically unwell isolates people.

I believe that isolation, although sometimes necessary to prevent the spread of disease, is itself a potentially dangerous experience. Solitude is one thing – where one seeks ‘aloneness’ for spiritual or psychological refreshing – but isolation can be a tool in the hand of our enemy and accuser, Satan. It may be forced upon us, but we must take practical steps to try and minimise any damage that may be caused. I speak about this, among many other things, in my book ‘Through the Storms; a manual for when life hurts’.

From the other side of the coin, I try to keep my eyes peeled for folk who may be lonely. A smile, a word of greeting, an offer of practical help, an enquiry if all is well, may each be a way of bridging the gap with someone who is feeling isolated and lonely. High rise blocks of apartments are deadly for this problem, hiding folk away and putting them in files and boxes. When folk do emerge, they are often wary and fearful. We need to find ways of taking an interest in others well-being without overpowering them or disrespecting their personal space. It’s a difficult balance, but the pandemic of loneliness is also deadly and there will be lives lost as a result.

This is where your local church community can be a literal ‘God-send’. Its foodbank, or church cafe, or drop-in centre, offers real hope for lonely people. Our church runs the Alpha Course and it is well attended each time we run it, offering friendship and good food as well as helpful videos. Find out more about our next course (starting January 17th 2021) by emailing me at throughthestorms750@gmail.com.

Above all, you may be lonely, but you are not alone. Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother. Hear the words again of Hebrews 13:5 from the Amplified version of the Bible: ‘for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down (relax My hold on you)! Assuredly not!’. 

Fake News or the Father of Lies?

 

So it seems like a vaccine is coming! It may only be like the lights on an oncoming train approaching the station, but at least it is on the way. There are many hurdles to be overcome before it can be made available in our communities, but there is a real possibility now that it might be offered later this year or early next. But - many questions arise - is it safe and effective? How long will any protection it might give last?

I hope that when it is proven to be successful, safe and effective, that the vaccine will not be grabbed by rich countries and horded away from the millions in the developing world who will need it as much as we do or even more. The need is worldwide so the spread of the vaccine should be global too.

But there is a fear surrounding this vaccine that is not healthy nor helpful. There is an element of 'fake news' surrounding some of the conspiracy theories that are frightening a lot of people, Christians among them. We do need to be cautious of putting too much emphasis on one possible 'breakthrough' when the virus could mutate at any time - BUT vaccination is a gift from God. I repeat - a gift from God! The achievements of vaccination over the last century have been stupendous. Hundreds of millions are alive today who would not have been if it had not been for vaccinations. TB, smallpox, measles, diphtheria, tetanus, polio etc were all killers, and have been beaten or controlled by the 'vax' brigade. Science and technology are moving on apace, and whereas it may have taken a decade to develop a vaccine years ago that is no longer the case.

I am praying for the vaccine development teams daily. I have found out the names of some of the leading scientists on these teams and I pray for them to stay well, be encouraged and be blessed in their work.

Please don't listen to the lies surrounding the vaccination process. Remember that Jesus said that Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and there are loads of lies being promulgated on social media around this issue. I know we all have to make our own decision on this one, but I will definitely be in the queue.

Don't let fear make the decisions round here! Follow your peace instead and choose to trust our loving heavenly Father to bring this dreadful pandemic to an end.

Sailing into a Whirlpool!

 Some years ago I visited Niagara Falls in Canada and decided to do the typical tourist thing of taking a trip on the boat that travels beneath the mighty cataracts. The Maid of the Mist takes its expectant travellers right through the water screen. Those boarding this thrill-seeker's ride through the torrents are issued with cover-all plastic coats, which most just ignored as they seemed to be irrelevant on a hot and humid July day. Within minutes we were to discover how much we needed them!

The boat was pushed around by the thunderous downpour like a tiny toy being tossed into a washing machine. We felt helpless and exhilarated all at the same moment, and soaked to the skin. In those days of fairly pathetic cameras and even more derisory photo skills, I got very few shots of the experience, but I never forgot the sensation of being adrift in a maelstrom of raging storm-water.

In some ways it feels like that again just now. The UK is in various forms of lockdown brought about by a raging pandemic. The government changes its mind and its policies by the day, and seems to be on the run rather than running anything. Across the big pond, the mighty USA is divided almost completely in half, and there are very real fears of civil unrest in the wake of this disputed election. At the same time, Covid-19 is running riot across most of the Western world, from America to Europe and beyond. News is coming in of a fearful  mutation of the virus via minks in Denmark and the US which may herald a threat to any vaccine and a further surge of infections. We are swirling in a sink-hole of international problems!

BUT - and it's a big but - that impression was false on board the Maid of the Mist, and it is also mistaken today. There was a captain on the bridge of that frail vessel, and he knew where he was heading. He also knew the capabilities of that tourist boat, and when to hold back. At every stage his hand was upon the tiller, his eye upon the flood.

Read these words from the Lord and be comforted today. They come from the Amplified Version of the Bible, Hebrews 13:5. "He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down (relax My hold on you)! Assuredly not!" 

If today you make Jesus captain of your destiny, and lord of your life, this present storm may not seem any less threatening or confusing, but the sense of peace and purpose he will give you will make a big difference.