Dear Friends,

Approaching Christmas - indeed, approaching Advent, for this is necessarily written before Advent starts - is a good time to take stock. 

`Taking Stock` is the name of the Dean of Guildford's autobiography.  It's a good read, but it still does not prepare you for the humour and spiritual depth of the man in person, so we were doubly blessed when he agreed to dedicate Thursley's new etched glass `Tree of Life` in November.  Those who were there would agree that he made a memorable occasion even more special .  Someone wrote to me that "the way the Dean wove the strands of his sermon was as inspirational and elegant as the images on the doors.  And what's more, he was very funny!"  I couldn't agree more.

We no longer stock-up with solid fuel, I guess, for the winter, but stocking-up still comes into it : cards, food, presents, decorations, the tree.  We have passed `Stir up` Sunday, and I know that some still make their Christmas puddings and cakes, and find this a useful landmark - so what else can the liturgy teach us, I wonder ?  The same Sunday saw the reading about the `sheep and the goats` (Matthew 25: 31ff), and it dawned on me that the `goats` are not condemned for the things they had done wrong, but for the things that they had not done for other people.  Christmas is often referred to as the `season of goodwill` (which is fine), but perhaps it would be better to approach it as the `season of good deeds` ?

Thinking about it, what we celebrate at Christmas is not God's good intentions, but what God actually did - and what we see in that is not some immediate, amazing change for the better, but the beginning of a process that took a human lifetime to get going and is still going !  In human terms we would have to rate Jesus' life (and death) as a failure - not much to celebrate there, then - but as Christians we have come to understand it differently, because for us `failure` is not about `not succeeding`, but about `not trying`.  We live in a world where so many things are no longer thought `safe` to do, for `health and safety` reasons - yet actually we are often the poorer for this.  Poorer financially, because getting people to perform some tasks now involves expensive safety equipment; poorer spiritually, because the very element of risk that we seek to eliminate is often an integral part of the enjoyment of the activity, and also because we no longer seem to inculcate a suitable vein of common sense into our children and others.  So, for Christmas, try something new - however absurd you feel initially in doing it; and try involving others.  Above all, `try` - God did; and Jesus still works, for those who love him.  He's not just for Christmas !

One of the things I try at Christmas time is to produce a Young People's Pantomime in Elstead.  This year it will be `Cinderella`, with performances in the School at 3 pm and 7 pm on Friday 2^nd and Saturday 3^rd January.  Tickets are available from the Rectory - also from Sarah Goodship (702 613), Gill Ellis (702 250), Helen Page (702 899), Rachel Dunnage (702 242) & Peter Muir (702 360) at £4 each, children £2.  At the time of writing I still need a pianist and help backstage…  See you there ?