“The news of fresh restrictions in many areas will be a bitter blow," they said.“For many people, it will mean spending Christmas Day alone. None of us has experienced a situation quite like it in our lifetimes.“We note the rise in infections and hospitalisations with real concern. But we also know that there is real hope. We are nearer the end of this than the beginning, with a vaccine already being made available and treatments improving.“We recognise the increased risk we face from the coronavirus - which has already taken so many lives and has now developed a new, more easily transmissible, strain - and we recognise our duty to look out for our neighbours and protect the vulnerable.“So, as many of us enter these new restrictions, we must commit ourselves more than ever to looking out for those who are alone, to caring for those in need and to praying for our nation and world.“We know that public worship – both in person and through remote means – has brought comfort, hope and inspiration to so many.“So we are grateful that, even in tier four, church buildings can be open this Christmas. But we urge everyone to take precautions and, especially for those in tier four, to be exceptionally careful.“Even though attending public worship is permitted, many people may feel it is currently better they do not do so. Clergy and others who are shielding should certainly feel no compulsion.“At this time of year - even this year - we celebrate the birth of Jesus with joy and hope. Jesus came to bring light that shines in the darkness.“We need that light now and always.”
Friends, as we approach a Christmas like no other, a line from a familiar Christmas carol has come to mind: not ‘In the bleak midwinter’, though it may have sometimes felt like that in our gloomier moments. Not ‘O tidings of comfort and joy’, though that’s been the inspired choice of the archbishops this year. But the phrase, ‘Brighter visions beam afar’. From the beginning of the millennium, you see, this year - 2020 - has been associated with visions. Taking its cue from the world of the opticians, and deploying a rather obvious pun, every self-respecting business, school, hospital and church has had its 2020 Vision Statement, planning and preparing for this very moment, as 2020 draws to a close. And such planning and preparations are important, of course, if our lives are to be fruitful and purposeful; and 2020 Vision Statements have their place. But what the <em>real</em> 2020 has reminded us is that even if our human vision might be proclaimed as faultless – 20/20 – when we next pay a visit to the opticians; there’s something we need that goes way beyond that: the ability, in the words of the apostle Paul, to walk by faith, not by sight: <em>‘Sages, leave your contemplations,</em><em>‘Brighter visions beam afar’. </em> The first Christmas, after all – like the first Good Friday – like the first Easter Day – was entirely unforeseen. No manmade vision statements could have come up with the idea that the world’s salvation would hang on the life of a tiny baby lying in a cattle shed, or an alleged blasphemer nailed to a cross, or an empty tomb and reports of a man risen from the dead. Only the divine vision of the prophets got anywhere near the true story, and they ended up being ridiculed or thrown down wells for put in the stocks or their pains. As the first Christians went around proclaiming this message, they too were seen as fools, ‘fools for Christ’, as Paul again put it. But then he added, ‘God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength’. And as I reflect back on this past year, and as I look forward to Christmas, my original 2020 vision statement – which, speaking personally, involved a sabbatical, and writing a book on Discipleship, and fostering the first tentative signs of church growth across the diocese in the 2019 statistics, may lie in tatters; but perhaps that’s a lesson in true discipleship itself. For following Jesus involves brighter visions than these, as together we choose to leave our human contemplations and ‘Come and worship Christ, the newborn king’. May God bless you and yours this Christmastime! <em>Bishop Andrew, December 2020</em>
<blockquote type="cite"><div><div>£1,000 could make a big difference to the work we doas a church and in our community That’s why we’d be really grateful if you could nominate us in Ecclesiastical’s 12 days of giving. Your nomination could be the one that wins us £1,000.Open to eligible charities in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, Ecclesiastical will be donating a total of £120,000 to 120 charities over 12 days in December and we’d love to be one of them. We will use this money to expand our FunDay@4 children’s programmeIt’s quick and easy to nominate us. Just visit movementforgood.com/12days, click ‘nominate now’ and enter our details. You will see on the opening page asmall box to tick maked "registration exempt" and then enter the name of Dunsfold PCC in the nomination.Nominations are open now, closing at midnight the day before each draw. Charities not drawn will be carried over to the next draw, and draws will take place each weekday from 7 December to 22 December 2020.The more nominations we get, the greater our chance of winning, so please spread the word to your friends and family.Thank you in advance for your time and support.John Gray Treasurer</div></div></blockquote>
