Christmas Message 2024
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00:00Dear friends, I wish you a light-filled and joyful Christmas.
00:15During the last year, I had the great privilege of visiting Ghana.
00:20The Church of England in South East Hampshire in the Isle of Wight is linked to the Church
00:26in Ghana and for many years we've enjoyed the exchange of ideas and people and faith.
00:33It's been a good thing.
00:35During the visit, we had driven many, many hundreds of miles.
00:40It was late at night and on our way to where we would rest for the night, we had a huge
00:47tyre blowout.
00:49There we were, side of the road, busy road, unlit, not the safest place to be, and struggling
00:57to get the wheel off.
01:00There we were with our little torches, shining light on the matter, but really stuck, unable
01:06to move, in an unsafe place.
01:11What happened next, and you probably anticipate it, has stayed with me.
01:16Someone on their way home after a long day's work, in a truck, saw us and decided to pull
01:23over.
01:24He put the floodlights on at the front of the truck, flooding the situation in light,
01:31and he had just the kit we needed to get sorted out, to get a new wheel on, with the spare
01:38tyre, and on our way.
01:42Light in the darkness.
01:44Light coming to shine away for those stuck on the edge of things.
01:51I think this is a lovely picture of Christmas, for at Christmas we remember God's light shines
02:00in Jesus.
02:01In a world where there's much darkness, we think of Syria and the Middle East, more generally
02:10Israel, Palestine, so much suffering and sadness, so much darkness to cope with.
02:17And it may be, I hope it's not the case, it may be that your life too has dark shades
02:22in it, and things that you struggle with, and things that make you uncertain about the
02:28way forward.
02:29I know that I do.
02:32This is where our faith in Christ, the Christ child, Son of Mary, is so important, and such
02:39a gift to the world, for the story of Christmas is the story of God's light flooding into
02:48the darkness, and the darkness not overcoming it.
02:53And this light of Christ shines today, for you and for me, shines in the lives of so
03:00many seeking to bring change and hope and a future to our world.
03:07I pray that this Christmas, you may discover afresh the light of Christ, welcome even,
03:15the light of Christ into your life and into your plans, that you may rejoice, as we did
03:23on the side of the road at those floodlights on the front of a truck.
03:27They brought light we didn't think possible, and that light enabled us to move forward
03:33joyfully into all that lay ahead.
03:37May you know the light of Christ, guiding you, flooding you with joy, this Christmas
03:44and in all the days that will follow.