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Open Door Magazine
The Open Door
magazine is produced bi-monthly by our church and
delivered to over 500 houses in the parish and beyond.
It includes articles (some of which are submitted by
members of the congregation), information regarding
weddings, baptisms and funerals, poetry, jokes and
adverts.
For further
information regarding placing adverts in the magazine,
please contact, preferably by email, the
Parish Administrator.
The following
is the vicar’s article from the latest issue:-
‘The Vicar
Writes
I was amazed
when Ian, the Editor of the magazine, reminded me that I
needed to write this Christmas magazine article; after
all, it is only the beginning of November - Bonfire
Night in fact! But then I realized that I have already
prepared the rotas, begun planning the Christmas
Services, contacts have been made with schools and the
civic authorities for their contribution. I remember,
too, my time in retailing when preparation for
Christmas, much to the dismay of staff and customers
alike, started at the end of September. And as the
countdown begins it seems that much of the Christmas
preparations, however large or small, happen almost
automatically. I guess that we all must go through our
own preparations for Christmas. As we get nearer, we
begin to buy presents and cards, we prepare the house to
accommodate the changes that will take place, we clean,
clear away things that are not necessary for the
celebrations, decorate our home and so on. There is a
transformation that takes place, all in preparation for
us to enjoy to the full the Christmas festivities - but
it costs us time and money.
Whilst it
would be easy to become cynical and think that we have
become trapped into a commercial world that takes
advantage of the Christmas festivities for its own
gains, perhaps it is symbolic of how God wants us to
prepare ourselves for Christmas. If we truly want to
prepare and celebrate Christmas – the coming of Christ
our Saviour - and if we want to take full advantage of
the opportunity that it presents to us, then there has
to be a cleansing of ourselves. As we remember and
celebrate the birth of Christ it is the ideal
opportunity for us to perhaps reorder our priorities,
and redecorate and rededicate our hearts to Christ.
It has become
customary to give gifts at Christmas and we often put a
lot of thought into buying the most appropriate gift for
the person. Whilst we have to be prepared to give
gifts, just as importantly, we have to be prepared to
receive gifts – as we give of ourselves we have to
graciously receive gifts from others, especially the
gifts that God chooses to give to us.
It really is
nice to receive presents, but one of the greatest joys
of Christmas is found in giving to others; it really is
better to give than to receive.
In Acts 20:35,
St Paul reminds us that Jesus said “It is more blessed
to give than to receive”. Two thousand years ago, the
greatest gift that God gave us was Jesus himself. We are
all so blessed by Jesus and the gifts that he gives us
that perhaps we ought to be giving him something in
return this Christmas. The greatest gift that you can
give him is yourself – your heart - and in return you
will receive the heart of Jesus.
May you all
have a happy and blessed Christmas and a peaceful New
Year.
Dave’
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