Locum's Letter

Dear Friends,

In the next week or two, we shall all be sitting down with our packs of Christmas cards to begin the laborious duty of writing them out. Some of us may have already completed the task. Signed, addressed, and sealed, the pile is primed for posting, testimony to our determination that this Christmas will be different. We shall be organised! But for most of us, it will be the usual last minute rush. Last year's list will be brought out and revised. Some names will be deleted, others will be added. We shall scribble promises to be "in touch". The telephone directory will fail to provide missing addresses - why do so many people today elect to go ex-directory? And two or three days before Christmas will see us responding to cards from people whom we had dropped from our list.

Why do we bother? According to the post office, the number of cards sent each Christmas has steadily risen every year, despite the growing use of e-mail and text messaging. A spokesman said:

A professor of psychology at University College, London, has made a study of the card phenomenon and argues that the sending of Christmas cards is a ritual with its own rules, conventions, and coded messages.

The cards we send, (not to mention the round-robin epistle popped inside each card which rehearses the family's fortunes over the past year) project our values, and speaks of who we are. Thus, a hand-made card suggests a creative person who has time on his hands. Printed messages speak of wealth and status. Charity cards point to the more serious-minded person who wants to escape from the commercialisation of Christmas. And so on.

If there is any truth in this, perhaps we should give more thought to the choice of cards we send. They should through word, image, and symbol, communicate the good news which lies at the heart of Christmas.

Christmas has been hi-jacked by the world of commerce and entertainment. Christ and the good news of his coming are increasingly left out of the celebration. A best selling card one or two Christmases ago featured a drunken reindeer with its head down a lavatory! It surely falls to Christians to remind everyone what the festival is all about. "Always be prepared," wrote the apostle Peter, "to give the reason for the hope that you have." A Christmas card may bear the message. That possibility can transform the chore of writing cards into a purposeful activity.

May I wish you a Happy Christmas and God's blessing in the coming year.

Warm greetings,
David Easton
Interim-Moderator and Locum