Before we forget about them for another year, I would like to pay tribute to the humble Christmas card. We were so lucky to have Cards for Good Causes resident in St Peter’s during Advent, making it easy to purchase this part of our preparations for Christmas.
It felt as if there was a danger of losing our annual exchange of greetings. Younger people are not in the habit of sending cards. They have so many other ways of communicating. And for all of us there was the rise in the cost of postage to consider: so that expense acted as a real brake.
But this year we seemed to need the extra contact which Christmas cards give. And there was a lovely response. Lots of very varied subjects (astonishingly little duplication), bringing colour and imagination into our homes. Lots of different charities involved, reminding us how dependent we are ultimately upon one another.
What I particularly enjoy is noting how individual cards reflect their sender. Some are studiedly non Christian, some are humorous, some show beautiful paintings, some have themes drawn from nature, and some very special ones are handmade and completely unique. You will have your favourites.
For those of us who are older, cards have also an essential purpose. They tell us about the friends we don’t often see: those who have got through the past year unscathed and feel up to enclosing ‘round robin’ accounts. But also those who have met with difficulties of one kind and another. So we are kept in touch and can respond with prayer and further contact. Of course there is also the puzzle of the card that does not come or which is not returned.
So a personal thank you to all who have sent cards, which have added so much to our Christmas celebration. And thank you to our church community, which continues to make sense of this custom, rooting it in our worship and love of one another.
And if, for any reason, your cards this year were sparse, together we can hold in mind the lovely images of our season: the crib, the star, the baby on a young woman’s lap, angels, a wintry landscape, people on a journey.
Lord we thank you
for the many images of love,
which unite and hold us in your presence,
and especially for the Child
revealing your glory
in the dark places of our world today. Amen
댓글