'God comes to us in all the mess of life' - Bishop Cherry

Christmas reminds us that God comes to us in all the mess of life, says the Bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, in her Christmas message.

If you’re anything like me, the last three years will seem like a bit of a blur. I’ve been trying to remember what Christmas was like in 2020, at the end of the first year of lockdowns, social distancing, prayer and worship on zoom. And then last year…many churches were still not open. In those that were, singing carols was only allowed with masks on – and how awful that was! And those who felt able to go to church and receive communion received only the bread.

Covid is still with us, but thanks to the vaccines, it seems that the worst is largely behind us – the lockdowns and isolation, the fear and the worry, the appalling number of deaths on a daily basis.

But this year has brought additional crises and other worries have become the topic of conversation. The continuing war in Ukraine. The refugees from that country and many others – some still dying as they try to get to our shores. The climate emergency that many would say we’re still not taking seriously enough. And the cost of living crisis that is resulting in millions of families not being able to eat or heat their homes adequately. The many planned for strikes over the Christmas period demonstrate all too clearly the levels of anger, frustration and despair that many people in work are feeling at the situation they find themselves in.

Life is hard. Arguably it’s harder now - locally, nationally and globally – than it has ever been, certainly in the lifetime of most of us. And when life gets hard and harder, we’re tempted to ask where God is in it all. What’s God doing? Why is he allowing all this suffering? How can I relate to a God who is Love with all this going on?

Christmas reminds us that God comes to us in all the mess of life. God chose to be born, not into a royal house or home (as the hymn puts it) with all the financial security and protections that brings, but into an ordinary working family, living under a brutal occupying power with all the dangers and insecurity that brings. In Jesus, we see the power of God revealed as a helpless and vulnerable baby in an animal’s feeding trough. We hear of God’s son being recognized and celebrated by people on the margins of society and strangers from a foreign land - a pattern that continued into his adult life. We listen to angels singing of great joy because in this scrap of humanity lies one who brings salvation to a broken world and whose love saves us from ourselves.

In many ways Christmas has become too cosy and commercially idealized. The feelgood factor that we’re all supposed to aspire to has overshadowed, almost obliterated, the truth at the heart of the Christmas story and it’s a challenge even for those of us who believe to hold on to that truth.

The truth is that the hope and the joy of the season lie not in the external decorations and celebrations that we’ve come to associate with Christmas, lovely though they are, but in the mystery that in Jesus, God came to us – is indeed with us – in all that life can throw at us; the depths of despair as well as the heights of joy, the agony of suffering as well as the blessings we enjoy. And God invites us to allow him into our hearts so that we may come to know more fully the hope and joy he brings and share that with others.

Whoever you are and whatever your circumstances, may you open your hearts to the babe lying in the manger and know something of the hope and joy that he offers, not just this Christmas but in the year to come.