[Updated 30-November-2009]
	November’s Focus is from Paul.

What goes through your mind when Christmas is mentioned?  Is it a boozy office party – the endless list of cards and presents – hours spent wrapping – or the shopping for that last present?  Most of us say that it has become too commercialised; the older generation would remember a sock hung up hoping for some fruit or nuts and a small gift from “Santa”.  Times have changed dramatically in the last 50 years, and so have the expectations of the “now” generation!  Parents are encouraged to spend hundreds of pounds on each child, and they do.

But wait a minute... Have we all lost the plot along the way?  It is great that Christmas is celebrated; and I am told that those of non-Christian faith also get in on the act and have a good time.  Giving and receiving of gifts is part of the message, and we all love the school nativity plays with shepherds in sheets and wiping up cloths on their heads, toddlers with wings and halos and little ones dressed as sheep and cattle!  Often it is said that Christmas is for the children; and we can as adults relegate it to the realm of fairy stories in the minds of those children.  So easily we lose touch with this event as history, as something that actually happened in and to our world.

Where are you with regard to this?  Is it a pleasant time had by all to push the mid winter blues away - perhaps a myth at best?

Or are you one of those who can and will spend some of the Christmas break contemplating the awesomeness of the event which changed the world forever?  Remember, even the date revolves around the first coming of Jesus Christ: BC...........AD.

His coming changed the lives of those who met Him and those who followed Him.  It is still the same today: He has the ability to change people’s lives, but we do need to open up to Him and deliberately allow Him in to make those changes.  There are opportunities in the run up to the 25th to “come aside” and give yourself a time to reflect in the midst of the hustle and bustle.  On our Home Page is a list of our Christmas events, where you can find that special time for you to join with other like-minded folk and just sit and soak up the awesomeness of it all.  God’s greatest gift &ndash JESUS CHRIST.

A Happy Christmas to all.

Paul