The most wonderful time of the year is here again. Rosy Christmas memories and films stir up emotions of love, warmth, family and giving. The shops are shut and for a moment there is peace on earth, or at least, on the high street. In their windows the red January sales signs have appeared, but for the next 24 hours there will be an armistice in the sales war.
As families gather for their Christmas meal, so too outside the homeless shelter, a strange family gathers; a people from night shelters and hostels, railway bridges and bedsits often unfit for human habitation. For a day, they enjoy turkey and tinsel, a film and a gift, before returning to the cold. It isn’t perfection, but it is filled with love and gratitude. It was for the very people who knew they were not good enough, who had failed, were lonely and broken that the Christ child came into our world. He came not to a centrally heated hotel, but to a cow shed: cold, smelly, filthy. On that day the only fur coats were being worn by the original owners and the congregation was a handful of unclean shepherds. Suddenly, the stable becomes a cathedral of worship from those who knew they were not good enough. With that irony, Jesus was later to be called the Lamb of God and spend his life amongst the poor, the outcast and the sick.
After that birth, no one can make the excuse that they are not good enough or clean enough to receive the gift of God’s love. Some time ago, a strange thing happened. There is a befriending group for the homeless; a place they come for cups of tea and soup, a game of dominos or pool and a chat. After a small sale of items they had made, the group managed to raise £200 and were asked what they wanted to do with it. Rather than spending it on food, a party or a financial gift for themselves, they decided to give the whole amount away to the local hospice. This small group, the poorest people in the city, gave everything they had.
And so we remember that at the first Christmas, God gave everything He had, so that we too could know that wonderful gift of His love. Love for everyone, the rich and the poor, the broken and hurting and to share that love with those around us. As Christmas may be different for many this year, less gifts, less food on the table, a cut back on heating and maybe some relatives missing, let us remember the simplicity of that very first Christmas.
The greatest gift is for all people and for all time. It is a gift that multiplies the more you give it away. It is the gift of love.
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