Joan’s Jottings – December 2021

We are now in Advent waiting with anticipation and hopefulness for the coming of Christ into the world once again. This time last year, we were in the midst of COVID travel restrictions and limits on gatherings. So, while the nights are physically getting longer and darker, this year the world feels like a brighter place and with precautions being put in place, our Christmas Festivities are set to go ahead. Jesus, the Light and Hope of the World, is coming.

This year I am wondering how to celebrate Christmas in a climate conscious way. What does a sustainable Christmas look like? What gift will I give Creation this Christmas?

I have started by asking myself these questions:

• What does it mean to love our neighbours at Christmas and who is my neighbour?
• What if my neighbour is the person living in the midst of drought or flooding or pollution because of the amount of carbon I am helping to put into the atmosphere?
• Or how about those around the world living being exploited for unfair wages and living in poverty so that I can eat and have cheap goods?
• What if my neighbour is the earth and all the plants and animals?
• Is there a way that my extravagance, after keeping my gift-giving and consuming to a responsible level, can then be mitigated in a way that benefits the earth?

To help creation and our neighbours around the world suffering from climate change and exploitation, I will keep my carbon footprint as low as possible. I know that light pollution from Christmas lights is a problem, I will use LED festive lights and ensure they are only on for a limited time – enough to bring enjoyment and lift spirits without being excessive. For Christmas Dinner, I will eat seasonal vegetables grown and sourced locally, and not trucked and shipped around the world. While we will have chicken or turkey, I will replace the bacon-wrapped sausages with plant-based sausages. I will look for gifts that avoid plastic where possible and for wrapping paper made from recycled paper and then I will attempt to wrap those gifts in a tape-free manner. Or I might even use recycled magazines as gift-wrap. I have found lots of suggestions online by searching for sustainable or alternate or ethical Christmas gifts.

For many years now, we have liked to pick a charity at Christmas who offer gifts that empower people, like gifts of animals (cows, sheep, rabbits, chickens, bees) or tools or seeds or gifts that improve sanitation, health and access to clean water.  We then ‘buy’ for example a flock of chicks or an irrigation pump, and then friends and relatives receive a card at Christmas telling them about the gift. Charities here like All We Can, Christian Aid and Oxfam offer these types of charity gifts.

However, I realise that my life is far from carbon neutral, so Adrian and I are also looking this year at some companies and charities that plant trees in the UK and around the world. We will pick one and donate some trees to offset our Christmas carbon footprint. Our children may even receive some trees planted in their name.

The Incarnation – the mystery of God coming into this world as the baby Jesus in human form – demonstrates the same project of love as was at the origin of Creation. It constitutes a bridge between God and humanity, and between God and the created world. As we read the birth story this year in the gospel of Luke, we will ponder again how the shepherds with their sheep were the first to hear the good news. It is a telling of how God was born among the very ordinary people amidst their struggle and their suffering. The whole of creation is groaning. All that God has created is included in the Christmas story.

Where does Creation appear on your Christmas list of relatives, friends and neighbours? And how much will you spend on Creation?

Here is December’s preaching plan (*=communion, LA=local arrangement). Or download the plan for the whole circuit.

	Museum St 10.45 a.m.	Chantry 9.30 a.m.	Landseer Rd 11 a.m.	Video from 6 a.m.	Other Services
5th Dec	Welbourn with *Pell	Parade/Gift Service – Pell		Jacobs	4 pm – Circuit Service at Museum Street & Livestreamed
12th Dec	LA: Favourite Carols led by B.Lindsay	Rokobuli	Carol Service – *Pell	Cassidy
19th Dec	Carol Service – Pell	No morning service 3 pm – Carol Service – Pell		Grimshaw
Fri 24th Dec				Pell	11.30pm – Alan Road – Pell 11.130 pm – Bramford Rd – Grimshaw
Sat 25th Dec	10 am – Pell			Pell
26th Dec		10 am – D.Sawyer		Connexion CD

The December issue of our joint magazine for the three churches has been published and is full of information about our December events. Read it here.