Ho, Ho, Ho - The retrospective

Christmas has finally come and the end of our 'busy season' is close at hand - only four more services left and the deed is done. But what of the 'season'?
  
This year has seen more unhappy people than I can remember when it comes to Christmas - they're doing it but the joy seems to be in short supply this year. The number of people who are 'long term' unemployed has doubled and I meet more and more people who are caught up in the debt trap, facing home repossessions and experiencing real hardship. I have been involved in more cases where children have been taken from their parents and/or placed on Child protection measures and seen more marital disharmony than I have for many years.
  
We have seen billions of pounds paid out to support and underpin the culture of greed that is banking, often at the expense of military expenditure, funding for social and welfare issues and of course, employment. Those who have gambled and made money from their mistakes are, it seems, rewarded while those who have toiled with companies like LDV, Rover and the like, are now unemployed. Those who have work are to be found at the check-out and two or three other part-time jobs as they strive to protect their homes and feed their families - no government bail-outs for them I'm afraid!
  
In short, we're looking like our society is not only melting down but this meltdown is supported and funded (or perhaps not funded) by our government. So where is the hope this cold and frosty Christmas Eve? Where is the cause for 'Good Christian men to rejoice?'
  
Man, having been separated from God because of sin now has, through the coming of a babe in a stable in Bethlehem (a real nowhere place), the means of restoring that relationship. The 'heavenly babe' became a man and went to the cross, a most awful death, to win for each of us the restoration of 'Peace with God'. This peace cannot be taken away - it cannot be repossessed and does not depend on credit status, employment record, academic achievement or  money in the bank. It cannot be bought, cannot be won, cannot be earned - it can, like all gifts, only be received.
  
As you read this God is asking each of us to receive the gift of the Christ child. To acknowledge that we do things that muck up our lives and the lives of those around us and to realise that the only answer is to be God's man or woman. Ask Jesus into your life - thank Him for dying on a cross so that you and God can have a relationship and unwrap a present that has no Argos code, needs no batteries, has a real (eternal) lifetime guarantee and will never let you down.
  
Wherever you are and whatever your circumstances - I pray that God will bless you and make this Christmas a special one by the cross of His son and the power of His love.
  
V