{"id":1617,"date":"2020-12-21T19:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/?p=1617"},"modified":"2020-12-21T19:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:01:00","slug":"message-from-the-minister-letter-25-sunday-25th-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/?p=1617","title":{"rendered":"Message from the Minister Letter 25 – Sunday 25th December"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear\nall,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is my final letter of the year and I\ndo hope that you are safe and well.  In\nthese strange times I hope that you have a pleasant Christmas whatever that may\nlook like.  Disappointment is never easy\nbut especially at this time of year it can be particularly cruel.  We have, like many of you, had all our plans\nfor this \u2018Christmas bubble\u2019 cancelled. \nBut we will still celebrate together at home.  However, despite our disappointment, I feel especially\nsorry for those people who will not get to see anyone over the Christmas period\nand remain alone.  This seems especially\ncruel and unkind in my opinion.  Mary and\nJoseph after their long journey must have experienced disappointment when they\narrived at the inn to find no room, we read this in our reading of the week\nfrom Luke 2: 1-14.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary and Joseph had to make a journey at what must have been a stressful time for them.\u00a0 Their baby was due any day and because the emperor, Caesar Augustus, had issued a decree for a census to be taken across the Roman world people had to travel to their hometowns.\u00a0 They had to travel from Nazareth down to Bethlehem which was a journey of about 68 miles.\u00a0 Now imagine taking that journey, it does not sound that bad does it, apart from the fact that the couple did not travel by car or use nicely tarmacked roads, but it was on a donkey, guided by Joseph on foot along bumpy, uneven paths.\u00a0 It would have been exceedingly difficult.\u00a0 If we assume Joseph walked at 2.5 miles an hour, it would have equated to roughly 27 hours of walking.\u00a0 Well over a day and then on arrival to experience the massive disappointment must have been upsetting and stress-filled.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One question that arises in my mind is\nthat if this was Joseph\u2019s hometown why weren\u2019t any of his relatives here?  Had they all died, or all moved away?  However, they were offered the stable and it\nwas here that Jesus was born.  We read\nthat \u2018she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was\nno guest room available for them.\u2019  The\nfact that Mary and Joseph managed this tremendously difficult journey and then\nendured Mary\u2019s first birth in such basic conditions is a miracle itself and yet\nso many amazing things happened that the whole event is incredible from start\nto finish.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We read next that shepherds living out in the fields nearby were startled when an angel appeared to them and announced that a Saviour had been born in David\u2019s town.\u00a0 If this was not a revelation to them, a whole choir then appears praising God.\u00a0 What a sight this must have been!\u00a0 \u00a0Earlier this year, January in fact, I had the privileged of visiting both the site of Jesus\u2019 birth and the field where the visit of the angels appeared to the shepherds is supposed to have taken place.\u00a0 Both sites now have churches built on them.\u00a0 I found both places very moving but especially the Communion service we shared at the shepherds\u2019 field whilst another group why singing while shepherds watched their flocks by night <\/em>in the background.\u00a0 What amazing events to ponder as we consider the gift God sent us all, His Son.\u00a0 I hope despite the disappointment you can experience the hope and joy of the season.\u00a0 Laura and I wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May\nour Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour born for us all, bless us now and always, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear all, This is my final letter of the year and I do hope that you are safe and well.  In these strange times I hope that you have a pleasant Christmas whatever that may look like.  Disappointment is never…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1618,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions\/1618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}