Thought for the week (we 21st December 2014)

All the supermarkets seem to have gone into overdrive to get us through the doors this Christmas.

With a recent report that shopping patterns are changing and that more of us are ‘shopping around’ then ever before has had alarm bless ringing in the highly competitive world of the supermarket executives..

All this along with internet shopping expected to go through the roof, the overriding impression is that Christmas cannot be Christmas unless we’re spent out and totally exhausted by Christmas Day!

Christmas, of course, has little to do with the frenzy of spending or the rush to the tills and everything to do with the truth that God has entered the world of his creation in poverty and lowliness. Its message is one of peace and goodwill and that includes those this Christmas who will be in real and abject need in our world.

That’s why we need to unwrap God’s gift of Christmas carefully and to find, despite all the Xmas hype and distractions the baby Jesus, born in the greatest poverty. To share His compassion for the hungry and needy and to reach out in love and concern for those who really need our help.

Then Christmas will truly be celebrated in our homes and in our hearts and we will find that the greatest joy is not in our rush to the shops but in our standing alongside the needy and the forgotten. We can do this by giving to those causes which seek to feed the hungry and provide warmth and shelter to the homeless this Christmas and all through the year. Being sensitive to the needs right here in our community and so making a difference in someone’s life this Christmas.

Who knows , in doing so, we may have the best Christmas of all!