Monday, 9 January 2017
Wednesday, 4 January 2017
Festive Illness
I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you a happy new year for 2017.
As for me, I've been ill since before Christmas with a heavy cold and then a chest infection which has been hard to shift. I'm hoping the second lot of antibiotics will do the trick, but I'm still coughing a lot today and have not yet made it back to work.
It was strange to have to miss going to church right through the festive period. I think I was last at church around 11th December. It's the first year I can remember when I don't think I sang a single Christmas carol or heard a Christmas sermon. And now I've missed the new year sermons as well.
It struck me that my Christmas experience this year was exactly that of most people in Scotland today - a Christmas without so much as "darkening the door" of a church. The big difference being that my absence was forced upon me by illness; most people's is voluntary. Many churches are looking to give a special welcome to visitors at Christmas, but relatively few come, which is sad for everyone.
I also got a glimpse into the lives of people who cannot get to church because of illness. It made me see how important it is to bring church to people who can't come to church. That is something I don't think most churches think about nearly enough.
As we come to Epiphany on 6th January, we continue to remember the message of Christmas, that God became a human being in that baby in the manger is good news for all year round, for all of humanity of every race and nation, and for all eternity.
As for me, I've been ill since before Christmas with a heavy cold and then a chest infection which has been hard to shift. I'm hoping the second lot of antibiotics will do the trick, but I'm still coughing a lot today and have not yet made it back to work.
It was strange to have to miss going to church right through the festive period. I think I was last at church around 11th December. It's the first year I can remember when I don't think I sang a single Christmas carol or heard a Christmas sermon. And now I've missed the new year sermons as well.
It struck me that my Christmas experience this year was exactly that of most people in Scotland today - a Christmas without so much as "darkening the door" of a church. The big difference being that my absence was forced upon me by illness; most people's is voluntary. Many churches are looking to give a special welcome to visitors at Christmas, but relatively few come, which is sad for everyone.
I also got a glimpse into the lives of people who cannot get to church because of illness. It made me see how important it is to bring church to people who can't come to church. That is something I don't think most churches think about nearly enough.
As we come to Epiphany on 6th January, we continue to remember the message of Christmas, that God became a human being in that baby in the manger is good news for all year round, for all of humanity of every race and nation, and for all eternity.
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