NI church leaders deliver their Christmas messages - ‘Few people have loved 2020. All cannot wait until things move into a new year’

Presbyterian moderator the Rev Dr David Bruce, in his Christmas message, takes the comfort of home as his main theme.

“Home is a place of acceptance. The church always needs to have this to the forefront of its outreach.

“Home is also a place of love. Love means saying sorry when we mess up, so that relationships can be repaired. Love means laughter and tears, in equal measure. Love means saying no as well as yes.

“Love means putting the defenceless at the top of the pile. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”

Dr Bruce also said home was a place of hospitality.

“Throughout my adult life I have visited homes in some of the poorest countries of the world, and experienced the most astonishing levels of welcome.

“It is humbling and even discomforting to receive much from those who have so little. But how powerful it is to discover that it is more of a blessing to give than to receive.

“Sometimes, home is a place we cannot be. That first Christmas Mary and Joseph were not at home. They were told there was no room in the inn, until one innkeeper offered them temporary shelter with his animals.

“Out in the fields the shepherds watching their sheep weren’t at home – possibly they were homeless. And neither were the wise men, who had left their home to follow a star, looking for a Promised King.”

Dr Bruce added: “As we prepare to welcome family and friends to our homes - ‘bubbling’ safely within the necessary restrictions - let us be open-handed so that the blessings we have received can be generously shared.

“As we also remember those who can’t be with us this year, let us remember and celebrate, even in these dark, yet hope-filled days, the birth of the One who is the light of the world.”

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Irish Methodist president the Rev Tom McKnight says that even for those who deny its true meaning, Christmas is different from other times of the year. Some people love Christmas. others cannot wait until things return to normal, said Mr McKnight, in his Christmas message.

“Yet, because of Covid-19, the year 2020 has also been different from other years. Few people have loved 2020. All cannot wait until things move into a new year.

“The pandemic has changed everything. It has caused so many deaths, on this island – and these islands, in Europe, in my home country of the United States. It has taught us that death is real and life is uncertain.

“We think of the sadness of so many who have died alone in hospitals or care homes, with families unable to be with them even at the end. We think of the pressure on members of the health service.

“We think of funerals with few mourners allowed to attend, and with those who do attend unable to embrace. We think of education disrupted because of school closures earlier in the year. We think of the lonely and the isolated. We think of the poor and disadvantaged, who have been hit the hardest.”

The Texas-born president added: “Yet we can acknowledge that good can come out of this experience. We have learned that even when our church buildings were closed, Christ is still with us. We have discovered new ways of worshipping using technology not available a generation ago. And we have learned that sometimes the best way to show our love is to keep socially distant.

“And so, at Christmas, as we remember the birth of our Saviour Jesus – the eternal Word becoming a human being – I want to say thank you. Thank you to medical staff and other key workers. Thank you to those who have provided guidance and help. And, especially, thank you to our local churches for continuing your witness during these difficult times.

“On a note of hope: let us hope that the new vaccines will be effective in ending the pandemic, hope that we will more greatly appreciate every day and every breath, hope that, from all that we have gone through, we will learn how better to serve Christ and each other.

“May God bless you this Christmas. And may 2021 be different from 2020.”

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The Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic primates, in a joint Christmas message, say people should concede that they do not really know the world and they must acknowledge that they cannot manage it.

Archbishops John McDowall and Eamon Martin, however, say Christmas is the time when “we call to mind the coming into the world of God Himself”.

“Jesus Christ came not to manage the world, but to redeem it. He came not to dominate it and to exploit it, but to serve it and to bring it to its intended fruition,”

The primates add: “There is an old prayer sometimes used around this time of year which talks about the time when Jesus Christ ‘came to visit us in great humility’.

“In one of St Paul’s letters in the New Testament, he talks about ‘Jesus not counting his equality with God as something to be taken advantage of but taking the form of a servant “.

“Could one of the positive consequences of this Christmas be that we have had to relearn how to approach the season with humility and also how to celebrate it as servants of one another, rather than as lords of all we survey?

“For that is what we have been doing these past months. The face coverings and the empty streets have not been signs of fear and desolation. Instead, they are the evidences of love and of a resolve to secure the future.

“Jesus Christ came and he lived (and died) in great humility as the servant of all.”