'This Christmas, you are not alone': A message of light and love from Leeds Minster
The Revd Canon Paul Maybury, rector of Leeds Parish and Leeds Minster, shares a Christmas message with readers of the Yorkshire Evening Post.
I wish you a very happy Christmas even if you are currently finding life challenging.
Christmas remembers that baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not far from Jerusalem in modern-day Israel. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” so writes John in his Gospel in the bible as an explanation of that miraculous birth.
For Christians, we know that this baby was God, himself, come to live within all the limitations of being human and to rescue us all, bringing love and hope.
The world into which Jesus was born was very similar to our world with its injustice, violence and hatred. Jesus was born into the mess and challenge and grew up in less-than-ideal circumstances. He was a refugee from an early age and yet spoke about love and peace and justice and showed us how we might live with God as our Father.
It was as if a light came into the world on that first Christmas and that “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1.5). And that light of hope still shines wherever we choose love over hatred and justice over injustice and forgiveness over retribution.
Jesus was born that we might know and understand and believe in the all-merciful and all-loving God. God who is love. God who loves us so much that he comes to share in our human frailties.
This Christian festival is more than an opportunity to be generous with giving and receiving presents it is an opportunity to welcome the light and hope of God’s love for all.
The birth of Jesus saw both shepherds and sages come to worship him and today Jesus is worshipped in churches across the world and near to where you live.
The worship of Jesus, God in the flesh, takes place in many ways and here at Leeds Minster we welcome a wide range of people to many different services. You will always be welcome.
May the light of God’s love, shown in the birth of Jesus, shine in your hearts and homes this Christmas.