I was at a local restaurant in late summer and on the tables were flyers encouraging me to book for their special Christmas Day lunch menu!  

As the advertising bandwagon rolls into town, the arrival of Christmas seems to be signposted earlier and earlier each year. The high street co-opts Christmas and makes it a key part of the business model. The soundtrack of life is hijacked too. In the days just after Bonfire Night, the elevator music in the shops puts on loop a Christmas play list. “I wish it could be Christmas every day” – really? 

One of the casualties of this marketing madness is that we miss the reason for the season. Instead of embracing the wonder at the heart of it, some of us morph into contemporary versions of the cynical Scrooge. Others deflect by saying “Christmas is for the children “. 

Then there’s the nuclear option embraced by some local councils. They delete all reference to the links between the seasonal celebration and its origins in the Christian faith and opt for Yuletide or winter festival. I guess the argument is “What's Jesus got to do with it?”.  

Of course, the answer is, everything. Christ is Christmas. Not the consumerism, not the store jingles, not the tree, presents and mulled wine. They are our inventions.  

But the celebration of a message that God became one of us. God the Creator King took on our vulnerability, entered our world of pain and suffering.  

Ultimately the story of God on earth finishes on a cross where he died and an empty tomb where he had been buried. For in love God steps into our world to rescue and transform it.  

That’s the story we can encounter. An encounter with mystery wrapped inside majesty. It’s a story we are invited not just to read about but become part of personally.  

So come and hear and sing about the story. Join us at one of our events. Encounter the wonder and the worship of Christmas. 

– Peter Baker, Senior Minister