Fr Jeremy: New Year Message

ONCE again we have had a Christmas in which things have not gone to plan. It has not been the Christmas that many of us wanted.

At both of our churches a couple of months ago, we were planning Christmas with all the trimmings: not only the usual services at which we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord, but also the convivial mingling over mince pies and mulled wine that traditionally follows. Those plans came to nothing.

Some of us will have had travel plans disrupted; others will not have seen the friends and the family with whom they hoped to meet.

Some of us will be sick, others afraid. We might be tempted to think that it has not been a real Christmas.

But if we reflect on the Christmas story, we realise that a part of the point is that things don’t go to plan, at least not from a human perspective.

I am quite sure that the Blessed Virgin Mary did not plan to become pregnant before getting married and I am equally sure that it was not a part of her plan to give birth while on a journey and to have to turn a manger into an improvised cradle.

And yet, although her life was turned upside down, all generations will call her blessed for the joy she helped to bring to the world.

It may be that in our disrupted plans, we are experiencing a Christmas that is more real that we initially recognise.

I hope and pray that in the midst of the disappointments and frustrations of these uncertain times, we retain our capacity to be surprised by joy; in the hidden and loving purposes of God, blessings can be found in the most unlikely circumstances.

A happy New Year to you all.