Our Minister

Revd Keith Lowder

Telephone Number: 01276 681333

Email: nkeithlowder@gmail.com

Our Minister writes (taken from our December 2011/January 2012 newsletter) ...

Christmas is a magical time for kids. I can remember counting down the days with excitement I could barely contain. I loved the traditions of visiting my grandparents, the music, Christmas plays, presents, time off from school, and all the pageantry of the season. However, I meet more and more adults who feel just the opposite about the season. For them, Christmas has become a source of stress. There is the wading through teeming crowds looking for gifts, anxiety over whether the other will like the present, encumbering planning, high costs, and rushing from party to party. How did Christmas become such a drag? While I have little responsibilities outside of planning and conducting worship services, even I have been sucked into the maelstrom. Christmas has lost much of its early luster. This has led me to enjoy Thanksgiving more.

Does the season have to be a burden? Must it be hectic? Why do we do we observe the season in the manner we do? What is the point? Why are we compelled to buy so many presents when it just started with a few for Jesus? Why acquiesce to the expectation of matching or surpassing the experience from the previous Christmas? Is this really pleasing to the Lord?

A part of the problem may be our traditional approaches to marking Christmas. Tradition can be a source for joy and may enrich our lives. It can establish structure, bring comfort, and provide continuity with the past. However, it can become stale and vapid. Worse, it can shackle us to conventions that sap the life from us. Continued embrace of a custom that no longer has a purpose, if it ever did, is a logical fallacy, named the fallacy of tradition.

I wonder how many Christmas traditions there are that once were good, but now should be scuttled?

In my last church we had a tradition of having all of our worship services in the sanctuary during Christmas Eve. As the church grew it became increasingly difficult to fit everyone in the sanctuary. We continued to squeeze people in as best we could. Yet it became clear we needed to move the two largest services into the Family Life Center which was basically a gym. Though we as a staff explained that we simply could not make room for everyone in the sanctuary and that we needed to make the move, there were still some protests from people. They declared we had never done it before and that it would not feel the same. Though the ambience of the sanctuary was special, the staff decided to break tradition and make room for the growth by making the move. People still came out and Jesus was glorified.

I have known families that have decided to stop blowing money on gifts for kin who have more than they need and have chosen instead to purchase gifts for the needy. I also know individuals who are vigilant in keeping Christ at the center of their season by reading a Christmas devotional or attending an advent study. Some have chosen not to travel.

We all have a choice in how we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Cut out what needs to be cut out and keep what should be preserved. This will manifest itself in various ways for different people. Whatever you decide, make Christ the focus. Though cliché, there is no Christmas without Christ. Take time in prayer to discover what God has for you this Christmas. And have a merry, Christmas!

Rev Keith Lowder

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