December thoughts from Nick ...

Imagine ……

You need to go to Horsham. Perhaps you work there, go to school there or have family who live in the town. You might require some shopping or simply fancy indulging in a little recreation or entertainment.

That drive of just a few minutes into town used to be so convenient, didn’t it?

These days however as you go out of the village things are rather different. Cutting off contact between the village and Lambs Green, a wall 10 yards high dominates the landscape. As you go down the hill the wall stretches alongside the length of the left hand side of the road and at the bottom it stands facing you and forces you to take a right hand turn. More than 20 miles along this perimeter you encounter an army checkpoint. . Here armed soldiers, bored teenagers on National Service, relieve the tedium by routinely taunting those who queue for hours to be allowed through to the road going into Horsham.

 I’ve based this description on a real life situation that I have witnessed myself . Only the names have been changed. For Horsham read Jerusalem and for Rusper read Bethlehem. The places in fact lie a comparable distance from each other as does our village from our nearest town.

Bethlehem is not some fairy tale place. It is and always has been a real community with its own tensions and the pains and joys of any ‘ordinary’ neighbourhood. The challenges that face the people there are quite extraordinary. Desmond Tutu, who should know, has described the present situation as worse than apartheid.

I will be singing carols this Christmas by way of a rehearsal for June, when once again I shall be in Bethlehem. If you are interested in finding out more about the possibility of journeying next year to the Holy Land on pilgrimage, do ask me. It is an unforgettable experience.

Christmas bids us journey in heart and mind to Bethlehem. We might start, and I do not pretend this is any less challenging than actually going there, by finding something of Bethlehem in our own community. Are there barriers to break down, faces in which to see the Christ child, vulnerable people in whom we can recognise the holy family?

With a little imagination we can surely answer yes and open ourselves to be the channels of whatever way God chooses to bless our village this Christmas.

With ever good wish for the holy seasons and for 2012 from me and the girls.