Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 18th December 2022

Dear Friends,

In theory all days are equally holy to Friends, but we live in a country which celebrates Christmas as a family festival and makes an effort to turn the season into a time of goodwill to all. In Quaker Faith and Practice Chapter 27.42 Janet Scott writes that she would like to see Quakers rediscover the truth of Christmas. Challenged by this, here are some thoughts.
Firstly, I have always understood that Christmas celebrates God becoming fully human, in the form of a tiny baby at a time when infants were far more vulnerable than they are now in our western world; his mother gave birth in an area allocated to domestic animals – a very earthy beginning to life on Earth. So it was a tremendous act of faith by God to entrust his son to humans in this way. In addition to the vulnerabilities of babyhood, Jesus and family became refugees in a foreign land, and we can only imagine what that might have been like in those days. 
Roundabout 12 years later, we hear of him in Jerusalem enjoying intellectual discussion with the learned men of religion. The story is related in such a way as to underline the spiritual side of this, because, when his parents realised he wasn’t with them, he is reported as saying, ‘Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business’. 
Then there is a long chronological gap in what we know (when some of us like to imagine he spent time with foreigners and even in foreign lands) and Jesus of Nazareth appears in the records again having found his vocation, aged around 30. This vocation is deeply spiritual and immensely healing for those who come to know him. He had a very busy ministry of teaching and healing. He had enormous charisma and drew the crowds wherever he was, and my picture of him is such that those who were really seeking found his company deeply rewarding. It seems that this was partly because there was a quiet side to him too, as he was noted for taking time out in order to commune with God. 
Our English word Christmas comes from the Greek word Christ, which is a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah which means ‘God’s anointed’. (Anointing still has religious significance, with many Christians regarding it as the more important part of the coronation service, signifying sacramentally the dedication of the person being anointed.)
So the festival of Christmas celebrates God’s anointed being fully human with all that this implies. But what if it’s hard to believe in a personal God? The title Immanuel means god with us, often to be found in hymns for the season before Christmas. So the truth I find in Christmas is in the divine attributes of love, joy, peace, patience, fidelity, self control, hope, and so much more. A goodly spiritual array to celebrate at this time as we acknowledge all these gifts which we receive from the generosity of others.

In Friendship,
Caroline Pybus

On behalf of the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (Bob Harwood, David Hitchin, Chris Lawson, Tim Pitt-Payne, Theresa Samms, Nancy Wall)