Use your gifts wisely after Christmas
FOOD FOR THOUGHT by Rev Heather Stewart, Parish of Latheron
The days immediately after Christmas can seem a bit flat – maybe some of you have already sorted out the aftermath of discarded wrapping paper and even gifts that you’d rather not have received! Some parents will wonder why they didn’t just supply their younger kids with cardboard boxes because they seem to be more interested in playing with the boxes than with the toys they contained.
Some of you have already made the decision to take down the decorations and to get on with the business – whatever it is. Some of you just want to get Christmas out of the way. It’s clutter, and you’d just as soon put it behind you.
The reality of the meaning of Christmas, however, is that Jesus is not a babe whose manger is getting pretty old and dusty. So often we leave Jesus in the manger but He grew up and He dwelt among people. A phrase from the Gospel of John, often quoted at Christmastime, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. He moved into our messy world and through the Holy Spirit He still dwells with us today.
Jesus is the Living One who reaches out to us in all our fears and anxieties, in our doubts and sorrows, our failures and He wants us to know the power of hope. He isn’t pushed aside so easily as packing up the Christmas decorations and forgetting the whole season. He compels us to look around us to see who needs us to be His hands and feet.
As we “get on with business” let us make sure that our business includes treating others with respect, seeking to serve others rather than being out for what we can get, of seeking to live in peace, to seek justice for the poor and oppressed. These are gifts that will have a lasting effect. May we enter the New Year with a purpose in life that will make a difference.
Rev Heather Stewart
Parish of Latheron