Methodist President’s Christmas Message

The President of the Methodist Church has challenged people to look beyond the romanticism of the Christmas story in search of the reality.

Revd David Gamble Christmas said Christmas was actually much more about the real world than it was about a lovely story of far off places in far off times.

“It's about a young unmarried mother,” he said. “And our country has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the European Union. It’s about a homeless couple and their young child out in the cold. Look on the streets of our cities. Think of the television pictures of refugees.”

Rev David Gamble reminded people to consider the hungry, the hurting, the oppressed and the abused this Christmas.

“That's the central part of the Christmas message,” he said. “God is with us. And behind and within the lovely Christmas story is the truth of God with us in our world and in our lives.”

The full text follows:

“I wonder how we shall remember Christmas 2009?
I have to admit that I don't always remember Christmas for very Christmassy reasons. Sometimes it is things to do with home or family. For example, 1995 was the Christmas we got a new cooker. It was delivered at the beginning of December. Eventually someone came to disconnect the old one on the morning of Christmas Eve, which seemed like good news, but wasn’t so good at 3.00 in the afternoon when still no one had come to connect the new one. They did come eventually – but not until very late.

Or I remember Christmas 1988. My wife, Liz, was pregnant and our baby was due in the middle of March. But then, just after Christmas, Liz went into hospital and our son, Joe, arrived two months early. When they came home at the beginning of March, I’d been so busy going to work, taking family members hospital visiting, doing the washing and so on, that the Christmas decorations were still up.

Or 1980, when my mum, who was housebound, asked to be taken out Christmas shopping on the last weekend in October. She bought and wrapped all our presents. The next day she contracted pneumonia and she died on the Monday. We opened her presents on Christmas Day. Many people associate Christmas with the death of someone special to them.

Other memories relate to work. In my first Circuit I was chaplain to an open prison for women. One Christmas we took a small group from the prison carol singing around the local village. Unfortunately, when we got back the group was one short!

So, many Christmas memories don’t seem to have much to do with the Christmas story itself. They’re not about the carols or the Christmas Day sermon, but about things – happy and sad - that were going on in our lives and the world at the time. Who will ever forget Christmas 2004, when, in the middle of the season of goodwill, the tsunami struck?

But that is part of the paradox of this time of the year. On the one hand is the Christmas story, which we like hearing again and again. On the other hand we have the real world; things going on for us, our neighbours and friends; things on the news, new cookers not turning up, people in prison, people being born too soon, people being ill, or dying. The real world.

But that’s the whole point! Christmas is actually much more about the real world than it is about a lovely story of far off places in far off times.

It's about a young unmarried mother. And our country has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the European Union. It’s about a homeless couple and their young child out in the cold. Look on the streets of our cities. Think of the television pictures of refugees.

It's about shepherds who didn't go to church and weren't all that respectable being there to witness how God was doing something new - while the churchgoers and the religious leaders weren't there.

It’s about wise men looking for a new king and finding him not in a palace but behind a pub.

It’s about Mary and Joseph having to escape with their baby, as sanctuary seekers. Who is to say they wouldn’t have been desperate enough to hide themselves in the back of a lorry coming through the channel tunnel in their attempt to save their precious son? And what kind of a welcome would they have received here in 21st Century Britain? And for those who didn’t escape, it's about innocent children being brutally killed. You don’t get much more real than that! And for Bethlehem in 2009 you could also read Baghdad or Afghanistan.

Christmas is about the real world – as we know it. And it’s in that real world – at times very cruel, painful and dangerous – that God acts. Not in heaven. Not even in the temple. But right in the middle of human life at its toughest. People being born, people dying, people on the run, people with nowhere to go, people for whom there is no room.

Remember the meaning of the name Immanuel in Isaiah’s prophecy? God is with us. That's the central part of the Christmas message. God is with us. And behind and within the lovely Christmas story is the truth of God with us in our world and in our lives. In good parts and bad, joys and pains, hopes and fears. Remember, too, that some people won’t be able to suspend normal life for a few days over Christmas. If you are literally starving; if you are a refugee or a sanctuary seeker; if you are a child being abused in your own home, worried sick that your dad’s going to be around more over the next few days – you can’t suspend normal life, however much you’d like to.

If the gospel is really the good news it claims to be (and I believe it is) then it has to be good news for the hungry, the hurting, the oppressed, the abused. Good news. God is with us.

Sharing that good news is a huge challenge – but it’s also our great joy. God be with you.”

Source: Metodist News Service 22/12/2009

Join the call for justice for persecuted Christians in India

Concern that authorities are failing to prevent violence and unwilling to protect Christians

People killed for their faith in Orissa and victims still suffering at the hands of religious extremists were remembered in prayer at the Synod of the Church of North India (CNI), in Punjab. Churches are not being permitted to contribute to the relief effort, but people are being urged to pray and join in the call for justice.

The 350 Synod members were visibly moved as they listened to two Christians from Orissa tell of their experiences in one of the 311 villages that have suffered violent attacks from religious extremists.

One victim told how his congregation had been attacked during a service and people were forced to flee into the forest. He had been attacked with an axe and left for dead among the trees. To this day he wonders how or why God saved his life. Although he has had to sell almost all he owned to pay for the medical treatment, he said; ‘I praise God for his mercy. My faith is now stronger than before.’

Concern was expressed at the way the police and authorities are failing to intervene to prevent violence, unwilling to protect Christians and their homes, and being partial in their upholding of law and order.

Christine Elliott, Methodist Secretary for External Relationships has written to the Indian Prime Minister, asking him to assure the British Methodist Church that the religious rights of all Indians will be protected and that the police and the courts will do all they can to guarantee the personal safety of individuals, families and communities.

The CNI General Secretary, Revd Enos Das Pradhan, expressed gratitude for statements of support from Partner Churches - including the British Methodist Church – and noted that the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had been forced to acknowledge the communal violence against individuals because of their faith as ‘a national shame’.

‘The immediate need is for emergency relief for those who are homeless or hiding in the forests and to bring an end to violence and threats’, said Revd Das Pradhan, adding, ‘Religious tolerance has been the basic tenet and hallmark of India’s ancient civilization and history. We condemn all religious violence.’

After discussion with CNI Synod Officers, Partnership Coordinator with responsibility for India Steve Pearce said; ‘Although no Church is allowed to be part of the current relief effort, I know British Methodists will be keen to help the affected Christian communities rebuild their lives and we will launch an appeal when the time is right. Meanwhile, I encourage everyone to pray for peace and to add their voice to the call for justice by writing to the Prime Minister of India and the High Commissioner in London.’


Source: Methodist News Service 20/10/08

CHRISTIANS IN CRISIS OF CARE FOR THE HOMELESS

Dozens of ‘poverty hearings’ in which people experiencing homelessness, bad housing or overcrowding share their experiences with churches will be held over next week’s Poverty and Homelessness Action Week (26/1–3/2). The aim of the events is to show Christians the human face of the poverty which, according to Government figures, affects one in five people in the UK. ‘Churches rightly pay lots of attention to poverty and hunger in the third world but often fail to appreciate the extent of the problem at home,’ said Alison Gelder, chief executive of Housing Justice, one of many Christian agencies behind the week.

Source: Baptist Times (24/1)

Here in Reading the churches do pay quite a lot of attention to the homeless by supporting CIRDIC (Churches in Reading Drop-In Centre), the soup-runs organised by the Christian charity FAITH, and the charity Christian Community Action, which provides furniture, etc., and advice to anyone in poverty or other difficulties.

During Poverty and Action Week (next week) there will be a lunch and meeting with local people, leaders and attenders of the Churches in Reading Drop-In Centre, Berkeley Avenue, on Thursday 31 January, 11.00am onwards, so that local church people can listen to the first-hand stories of the homeless who regularly use the drop-in centre for showers and for food.

Not quite so happy is this week's report which dominated the front page of the local Evening Post on Thursday with the headline 'Homeless need a Place to Eat'. The report says, "A charity helping Reading's homeless is no longer operating in Broad Street (the main street) because the council and police do not want rough sleepers gathering there. The FAITH Christian group has been providing hot drinks, sandwiches and blankets for homeless people in Reading for 15 years.

"FAITH came to an agreement with the authorities to avoid working in Broad Street because of concerns raised by the council about six months ago, but it still insists that there is a need to service this area of the town centre. A FAITH volunteer explained, 'We used to gather in Broad Street. We had a rough idea where the people would be and we would go round with our trolleys and bags providing them with food, blankets and social interaction. We would see 20 or 30 people a night in Broad Street but my understanding is that the council was unhappy about the congregation in Broad Street, so we ended up in the car park of Greyfriars Church with only 8 or 10 people.' FAITH, a registered charity run by volunteers from church congregations from across Reading, now operates from Greyfriars Church on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, handing out food provided by Pret A Manger and blankets from Christian Community Action. It also runs a tea bar for the homeless in Hosier Street on Sundays, when the church car park is needed for worshippers.

"The Executive diector of FAITH said he understood the council's reasoning but hoped that they could come to an understanding. 'With the sandwich handouts we are trying to co-operate with the authorities' requests but my personal feeling is that the homeless are people and should be allowed to go where they want to be.' To the council, he said, 'If you are refusing to fund them on the street and you are taking their bedding away, then it is all stick and no carrot. There is no open night shelter in the town, so these guys have nowhere to go. We are a big, wealthy town and we must be able to do something.'

"The Councillor speaking on behalf of Reading Borough Council said: 'Large numbers gathering in places like Broad Street could produce an intimidating perception which is not something we want to have in Reading's main street. A night shelter has been discussed many times but we don't have and wouldn't support an open drop-in facility. The issue is that many individuals require treatment for drug and alcohol addicton and related problems. We aren't in the business of allowing alcohol and drugs to be brought into institutions. It would be a misuse of public funds."

The Evening Post interviewed (and pictured) a 26 year old young woman originally from Portsmouth, who said, 'Throughout my life I've been pushed from pillar to post. I've been in care and in hostels since the age of six and in a childen's home before that. I am in temporary accommodation so I am not homeless, but often cannot find the money for a meal. FAITH is not just about food. It's the friendship and the warm welcome. Also people can give me advice about housing and other problems. I like to go to church and I believe in God, but this is not just for Christians. It'a for anybody who needs help and somebody to talk to who will listen to you and what you are going through.'


Please join us in praying for those in poverty and homlessness and also for those who seek to give help in dificult circumstances.

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