Pastoral letter

Greenbank Manse

Dear Friends

As I write this it is only the end of October and already I am being told how many shopping days there are before Christmas!  The countdown to Christmas seems to get earlier and earlier each year.  Last week a 'Christmas menu' arrived in the post from a local restaurant.  The shops are filled with Christmas decorations and presents.  Television programmes and magazines are trying to encourage me to busy myself preparing for the perfect Christmas with co-ordinating decorations; gourmet dinners; homemade mince pies and shortbread.  If I am being honest, these expectations of Christmas are not just imposed by others I actually impose them on myself.  If we are not run off our feet, overwhelmed by 'things to do', are we not all tempted to think there is something wrong with our preparations? 

Last week the Chaplaincy Team at Williamwood High School hosted a short lunchtime reflection for staff at which we considered Psalm 46 and the importance of having times of quiet and reflection during a busy school term in order to connect with God.  According to the Psalmist, it is God who waits in the stillness.  Perhaps having this stillness in our lives, at this time of year, is even more important when we are constantly being bombarded by societal pressures to conform to expectations that fail to reflect the true meaning of Christmas.

Sometimes it is hard to have even one minute of stillness in a busy day yet we all need this quiet time, not just sitting down, not just muting the TV, but a real time of withdrawal from the busyness around us.  The point of the stillness is to let enough of our everyday busyness drop away so that there is room for God to fill us with His love.  God is surely our refuge and strength, but we'll never be aware of that or know its benefits until we can learn to be still and know the God who loved us enough to come to earth that first Christmas to live and to die as one of us. 

Yours,

        Jeanne