Tag: christmas

Green Tau Reflection

Christmas 2025

I find this a fascinating picture, so much detail! It is the work of Bruegel and is his representation of Mary and Joseph finally reaching Bethlehem so that they can be registered. You can easily recognise Joseph as he carries a large saw over his shoulder.

  The sun is setting as they arrive. The building to the left seems to be both an inn and the government tax office (note the red plaque with a crown and double headed eagle) where people are being registered. There are people busy with daily tasks – slaughtering a pig, gathering firewood, hauling goods, assembling a timber framed building, warming themselves around a fire, sharing a drink in a temporary tavern – and children playing. 

It is also a scene that shows the faults and frailties present in the world. There are men brawling, and soldiers standing-by – are they there to defend or subjugate the people? There is a man emerging from a small shelter – he’s a leper with his warning clapper in his hand. Behind his hut someone is tending – or pilfering – what ever is kept there (are they plants or rabbits?)There is also a broken down wagon, its wheel stuck in the snow. There are a group of people sheltering from the cold in another rudimentary shelter – and the severe cold is clearly something they are all having to contend with. And in the background is a ruined castle – lack of money or the result of a siege? And of course there are the tax collectors.

In Bruegel’s picture, Jesus will be born in a world of poverty and oppression, of men fighting and children playing, a place where people struggle to make life work for them. If we could envisage Bethlehem in the time when Jesus was born, what would that world have looked like? Again it would have featured poverty and oppression, a place controlled by foreign soldiers and a remote king. It would have been full of people some who were rich and some who struggled, some who were rejected and some who were revered. A place where people could be exploited to suit the aims of others.

Contrary to some of our carols and Christmas cards, Jesus was born into a world where things were flawed. God became human in a discordant world where there was evil and wrong doing. Bruegel asserts the same truth in his painting. 

And sadly the truth is not much different this year. But somehow this is where I think I find hope. God comes to us, to be alongside us, when we most need that divine love. God doesn’t wait for us to overcome our faults before seeking us out. I think we  celebrate Christmas not because we’ve solved all our problems, but because we need the reassurance that God always comes to us in love, and that of all things, love is the most powerful. 

Advent four

21St December 2025

Reflection with reading below.

Today’s gospel gives us the Christmas narrative from the view point of Matthew’s gospel. Here the story of the virgin birth and Mary’s marriage, comes to as revelations that Joseph received. In someways this is positive as the traditional Christmas story tends to relegate Joseph to a bit part where as I am sure he was a key player in ensuring that Mary safely gave birth to Jesus and in ensuring Jesus’s own safe childhood. Indeed there is some suggestion here that Joseph may have faced some public discrimination or judgement about his marriage. This is also a birth that takes place within the safety of Joseph’s home – no stable or manger here.

At the same time, one might argue that Matthew’s narrative presents a very patriarchal standpoint. 

But most surprising is how very low key Jesus’s birth! What seems more important are the names given to Jesus. These are the key part of the story because they tell us who Jesus is and what his role is to be.  Matthew highlights two names: Yehosua (or Joshua of which Jesus is the latinised version) and means ‘Yahweh saves/ is salvation’; and Emmanuel meaning ‘God is with us.’ 

In Jesus God is uniquely with us in human form, and it is by entering our human state, that God is giving us salvation – or in the words of the Psalmist, restoration. Or as St Paul writes, this is the Gospel of God. We celebrate Christmas to celebrate this good news: that God is with us, that God does indeed embrace and experience our humanity in all its messiness and failings, and that God desires the restoration of humanity – the salvation of the world! Christmas celebrates what it is to be a family – the different roles that family members play, the relationships we share, our ongoing relationship with God – for this is the endorsement that God is with us: Emmanuel

. Christmas also recognises our need for healing and salvation. It prompts us to care more deeply about those in need, those we have hurt – and what we have hurt and destroyed – those we have failed and those we continue to fail. It prompts us to be alert to God’s will, to do what God is asking of each of us. It reminds us that what God desires for all of humanity – repentance and restoration. And it reminds us that the work of the kingdom begins now here on Earth with us, with our Emmanuel. 

Isaiah 7:10-16

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.” 

Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18

1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *
shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.

2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *
stir up your strength and come to help us.3 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

4 O Lord God of hosts, *
how long will you be angered
despite the prayers of your people?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; *
you have given them bowls of tears to drink.

6 You have made us the derision of our neighbours, *
and our enemies laugh us to scorn.

7 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

16 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, *
the son of man you have made so strong for yourself.

17 And so will we never turn away from you; *
give us life, that we may call upon your Name.

18 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Christmas Day 2024

Reflection

Today we celebrate the birth of a baby born in a stable some 2000 years ago. We can imagine what it was like because every day before and since then, babies have been born. Not all in stables – some in state of the art hospital suites, some in bomb sites, some in birthing pools, some in favelas – but each uniquely special.

Babies with their vulnerability and miraculously complete appearance, evoke such emotions from us – whether we are the parents  or not. Emotions of love, joy, wonder – even of adoration. I am not surprised that the shepherds were filled with awe and wonder when they saw the baby Jesus lying in the manger. And how much more their awe and wonder if they were able to fully take on board that this baby was to be the one who was to save the world, to bring into the world the means for healing and restoring all that gone wrong. Or if their were able to get their minds around the fact that this baby was God incarnate – God becoming as human as you or me. But I am guessing that Jesus looked no more different – and no less amazing – than any other new born baby. It is the ongoing miracle of God that new life continues to be born each and every day.

Everyday like the shepherds, we are called to witness to the miracle of life and to praise God. 

Jesus, even though he was born in a stable – which was probably not such an uncommon occurrence – was welcomed and protected by Mary and Joseph. He was born into a family that would nurture and safeguard him, that would enfold him in love – just as they had wrapped him in swaddling clothes. In Luke’s gospel we see Jesus growing up in that family, brought up with the faith of his parents including being taken to the temple Jerusalem, and that even in adulthood Mary and Joseph continue to be concerned for his welfare. 

For many people Christmas is a celebration of family. Families – as Jesus himself comments – include both blood relatives and others who happen to take on family roles. Being in a family is an important part of what it is to be a human. They are places of unconditional belonging. They are places of love. Families are not separate entities but all interconnected and intertwined. This is what we are celebrating at Christmas. We are all one family in God. Through the birth of Jesus we know God as  father and mother of us all.

Advent 2

8th December 2024

Reflection with readings below 

Advent is a season of preparation for Christmas – marking the birth of Christ – and for Christ’s judgement or presence at the end of time (however we may view that, be it of our life span, or that of civilisation or of the earth).

The birth of a child is always special but not all births are surrounded by bliss and serenity. The two gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth suggest that his birth was surrounded by various problematic and unexpected issues – moral dilemmas about paternity, temporary homelessness, the threat of murder, and flight as refugees, for example. And for children around the world today, birth and infancy can be just as problematic with the potential likelihood of poverty, homelessness, war and violence, lack of food and health care, and diverse moral and social obstacles. Just this week we have been hearing how women in Afghanistan will no longer be able to train as midwives.

So why, when we prepare to celebrate Christmas in our churches, do we present an image of birth that is all sweetness and light? Are we short-changing our congregations – and perhaps especially those for whom church going is an annual event – by implying that that is all that Christianity is about – a sweet  and sugary message. A message that has nothing to say about the difficulties and short comings that many people and communities face. A message that fails to acknowledge that these are issues that Jesus did and still does care deeply about. The difficulties and shortcomings are the reason why Jesus came as a saviour. He came bringing different ways of being human, different priorities, different ways of relating to God. The wisdom that Jesus still offers – if only we humans would accept it –  can  bring both peace and justice to our world.

The world is crying out for salvation, for healing, for restoration and renewal. The rules and cultures humanity lives by are not fit-for-purpose. They do not ensure the unfurling of peace and justice for all.  We need to making clear that the gospel message of Jesus is one of salvation, of turning around the way we live,  of the way we care for one another, of the way we care for not just ourselves but all of creation – of which we are but one small but potential highly destructive part.

People shouldn’t be coming to a church that says everything is perfect and innocent, adorned with twinkling stars and fairy lights. But to a church that says we know we are imperfect and that we live in a variety of imperfect systems, and that many things are wrong in this world. A church that is ready to acknowledge and identify with the suffering and hardships of others – a church that doesn’t look away from unpleasant things pretending the doesn’t exist. A church that can equally be confident in asserting: It doesn’t have to be like this. There is a different way of being and doing. It is the way of God, it is the way of God revealed most acutely in the person and being of Jesus Christ. 

Malachi 3:1-4

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight– indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. 

The Song of Zechariah     Luke 1: 68-79

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
he has come to his people and set them free. 

He has raised up for us a mighty saviour, *
born of the house of his servant David. 

Through his holy prophets he promised of old,

that he would save us from our enemies, *
from the hands of all who hate us. 

He promised to show mercy to our fathers *
and to remember his holy covenant. 

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, *
to set us free from the hands of our enemies, 

Free to worship him without fear, *
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life. 

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, 

To give his people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins. 

In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us, 

To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. 

Philippians 1:3-11

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, 

and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth; 

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'”

Feast of the Epiphany

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Hebrews 3:4


Three gifts, 

carried by Magi

riding long roads from the East.


By a star

they had set their course

to seek out a new born king.


Yet from Jerusalem

the worldly snare

of incumbent power pulled them off course.


In Bethlehem 

a home for folk and beast alike, 

made welcome this wandering coterie of  strangers.


A child,

cradled by loving parents, 

is worshipped  with  gold and myrrh and frankincense.


Christ

bless this house

and all that cross its threshold.


Christus

mansionem benedicat.

Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, returned another way.


A family –

threatened –  uproots, takes  flight.

How quickly they join the exodus of refugees.. 


A welcome?

On these shores?…  beyond this border? 

Do you really  deserve a home?


Is not earth our  common home? 

Who designs the borders?  

Who decides who’s and who’s out? These strangers our kin!


This is our  common home

to share with kith and kin,

with bird and beast and all that swims and squirms and creeps.

This  is our  home 

to share with tree and grass, weed and flower, 

with seaweed forests and coral reefs.


Christ

bless this our home –

our common home –  and all that dwell therein.


The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1


May we, like the Magi, 

seek what is true.

May we, like the Magi,

seek the other way.

May we, like the Magi,

worship the maker of our common home.

Amen. 

For a house blessing – https://greentau.org/2022/01/06/marking-epiphany/ NB do adjust the numbers to reflect that this year is 2024!

Christmas Day

Vulnerability 

 One small light 

One new born infant 

Lacking  protection

Seeking love –

Can we care for him?

Vulnerable world

1.5 degrees –

Do we care enough?

Like the last few years, this year has been overshadowed by the ongoing climate crisis. The oddly shaped seasons with an early spring and a long warm autumn and in between a heat melting summer – not just here but across the world. Amazingly the trees and plants that seemed dead during the drought, have bounced back with new growth and new blooms well into November. I am not sure that the birds and insects have been as resilient. 

This nativity picture spoke to me of vulnerability, and I feel that the world is in a similarly vulnerable state. It seems that it won’t take much in terms of a temperature rise, to trigger a series of tragedies – disappearing glaciers and ice caps, floods and rising sea levels, burnt out summers, crop failures, hunger and drought. Will we humans look on bemused, and simply fail to act? 

In this nativity scene, the onlookers are in awe of this new life, worshipping this gift. They are looking on with love and compassion, and each in their own way will change their lives to care for that new life that lies before them. They will keep a flame of hope alight, not knowing what blaze of glory it will ignite. 

Have a happy Christmas filled with love and awe for all that is good in the world. And may 2023 be a year of hope and transformation, a year in which we rise to the challenge of averting the worst of climate crisis, a year in which peace and joy and sufficiency will be our reward.



 

Green Christmas tips

24th November 2022

  • More is not always good – enough is better!
  • The financial value of a gift is not the same as the value of the gift, nor does the financial value equate to the  amount of love you have for the recipient.
  • You might agree with friends and family to source all your presents from charity shops – the charities gain, and if anyone receives something they can’t use, it is easy to pass it on again via another charity shop without feeling guilty.
  • You might opt to give charity gifts such as sponsoring a puffin, planting a tree, twinning a toilet or equipping a child with warm winter clothes. 
  • Reuse last year’s wrapping paper ( or make a note to keep this year’s for reuse next year).
  • Reuse brown paper (often comes as a space filler in delivery boxes) which you could decorate with potato prints. Equally newspaper with coloured string is effective (choose sheets with a nice picture or pages from the colour supplement). 
  • Use eco friendly/ non plastic sticky tape or  use string as  that can be reused.
  • Make gift tags from last year’s recycled cards or simply buy some coloured card and cut it into squares or rectangles.
  • If you make your own Christmas cards why not make them as postcards avoiding the need for envelopes. Email news letters rather than printing out ‘round robins’. Add a picture and make your email into an e-Christmas card.
  • Make your own decorations. Cut up coloured paper (pages from colour magazines, strips of reused  wrapping paper etc) to make paper chains or pleated chains. 
  • If you collected autumn leaves earlier in the season, strings these together to make a decorative chain. 
  • Tie together pine cones, decorative twigs and to make vertical hanging decorations.
  • Make pleated paper angels, origami stars, reindeer,  or Father Christmases. For a series of activities making Christmas theme decorations you can watch this YouTube Advent calendar – https://youtu.be/HhSwBrGRqJE
  • Use champagne corks and felt to make Christmas elves – https://youtu.be/Er7POBLRDOY
  • Rather than buying a tree collect some decorative branches and arrange them in a large vase (add stones to ensure it is bottom heavy) and then add your tree decorations. 
  • Make a wreath from greenery from your garden or tie into a bunch with  a cheerful ribbon (door decorations don’t have to be circular).
  • We tend to generate most food waste over the Christmas season. Make a list of what you need and stick to it. If you do add in extra potatoes etc – just in case – make sure you use them before buying more. (We dread not having enough but perhaps forget that by Boxing Day plus 1 many shops will be reopening).
  • If you like a tradition roast bird, try and source one that has been compassionately reared, ideally organic. Maybe this could be the year to investigate a vegan alternative complete with all the trimmings of roast potatoes and parsnips, sprouts, cranberry sauce and stuffing. Cook enough to have left overs to enjoy on Boxing Day.
  • If you haven’t yet made mincemeat there is still time and it is very easy. Making your own mince pies will avoid a lot of waste and/ foil and plastic. https://greentau.org/2021/09/09/count-down-47/
  • Christmas puddings are also easy to make. If the 7 hours of steaming puts you off, you can steam then in a slow cooker half filled with hot water. 
  • Plan for a walk on Christmas Day in  a local green space – the exercise and fresh air is a good tonic and it is a chance to reconnect with the natural world. 

 Counting on … day 345

10th October 2022

Green Christian advocates ‘Joy in Enough’. Enough is about what is sustainable for the planet ; joy is about pleasure and fun and contentment. Christmas is a couple of months away but now may be a good time to plan for a joyously sustainable Christmas. Talk to family and friends what this might look like for Christmas is a time of coming together.