JUSTIN WELBY
Archbishop of Canterbury
In many households, expectations around Christmas are high. Not in mine. “When will dad be ill?” is a fairly frequent comment from the children, who are used to the fact that by Christmas Day vicars get to the point where they run out of resistance to any disease going. Or, “So what’s going to be the drama this year?” It always seems there is some sort of drama.
There was the year of the dog. Bramble and I went for a run in the local woods at 6.30pm on Christmas Eve: she smelled something interesting, disappeared and did not come back. The atmosphere in the house during the day was one of deep depression. Christmas was ruined.
Thirteen long hours later, I was standing on an open-top bus in front of 5,000 people (one of Canterbury’s great Christmas gatherings); my phone buzzed and – very rudely – I answered. Bramble had been found; Christmas was saved and I, and the head of the cathedral, jumped up and down for joy!
There was the year of pneumonia. Feverish coughing and feeling generally awful, I had to cancel preaching in Canterbury Cathedral on Christmas Day. Unusually, the diagnosis of pneumonia was a huge relief – 36 hours before I had been visiting an Ebola clinic in Sierra Leone. The precautions that wonderful clinic took meant I was much more fortunate than those I had visited. I quickly recovered.
It is quite easy to assume Christmas is to be survived, rather than enjoyed. But I am not in the least cynical, because every year there is something, as I look back over the previous twelve months, which speaks to me of the miracle of God coming to be with us.
Let’s be clear. Christmas is not really about babies and mangers. Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us. God came to live among us; to be born and live and have his flesh crucified by others, all so he could be with us.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
‘Imagine Everyone On This Planet Is Your Equal'
David Beasley, Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning UN World Food Programme, reveals the words his work is founded on
God Sets The Example Of Adoption...
Many people have ruled themselves out for fostering or adoption when the system would rule them in, explains Krish Kandiah
The Work Of Missionaries In Lockdown
When lockdown brought Ian and Katie Moore’s mission work in Macedonia to a halt, they used the time to seek a refined vision for reaching their local area. They told Chris Rolfe their story
How Nurse Helped Acid Attack Model Find Faith
Katie Piper explains how a life-changing incident changed her life in more ways than she expected as she recovered in hospital
Big Challenges Issued At Online Conference
Elim’s first online theological conference examines how our understanding of the ‘End Times’ shapes our view of mission
Lockdown in London deepened my faith
Living alone in London may not have been what he dreamed about, but Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic says it has driven him closer to God
The Really Good News about new initiative!
Elim’s new online mission programme could be the biggest evangelistic outreach we’ve ever done, says national evangelist Mark Greenwood. As we gear up for Easter, he gives the lowdown on the campaign
It's the gospel of liberation, not renovation
When Jesus was 30 he went to the prison of sin, and knocked on the door. Satan opened that little window and said, “What do you want?” Jesus told him: “I have come to set the captives free!” A sermon by the late Reinhard Bonnke
The mystery of Skull Hill
Skull Hill is a rocky hill rising just outside the north wall of Jerusa-lem, not far from the Damascus Gate. It was given that name because of the striking resemblance to a human skull appearing on the weather-beaten formation of its southern face.
A decade of mission
With an Easter evangelism programme, the Elim Leaders Summit and a renewed call to mission, General Superintendent Chris Cartwright outlines Elim’s plans for 2021 and beyond
