A good friend and neighbour of mine is about to retire. He is trying to grapple with the immense changes to his life as he signs off on 40 years of hard work. Half-terrified and half-relieved he can put his slippers on with the assurance of a job well done. I am hoping he might have more time to look after my garden which is in need of attention.
He is roughly the same age as me, so it brings into sharp relief the questions many of us ask ourselves periodically: what is our life all about? Work, family, leisure, kids, pleasure? Or is there more to it than that?
2017 has been a turbulent year for many of us: Inflation rising faster than wage increases, reducing spending power. Many young people struggling to get onto the housing ladder. More children challenged with special needs. Brexit dominates the headlines and most of us are sick of it. Politics is becoming very tribal once again, back to two party politics with a vengeance, with very different visions of how society can best work.
Christmas is a good time to step off the conveyor belt and think more deeply about the meaning of life. We know that the hurly-burly of January will leap upon us soon enough.This season of (temporary) goodwill to all men should give most of us a chunk of space to think the deeper thoughts.
So what thoughts should we think? Maybe consider what all of the fuss of Christmas is really about. We are celebrating the birthday of someone who actually lived. It might not have been 25th December, but the event itself is well established. The historical evidence, (eye-witness accounts and a comprehensive investigation commissioned by a third party) for those events is far greater than for, say, Julius Caesar coming to Britain at about the same time and yet few would think to challenge it. Maybe this Christmas is a good time to explore the evidence.
Whether we accept it or not Jesus turned the world upside down. Many of our western values of individual freedom, human rights, the dignity of all human beings and respect are based on his teachings. His disciples watched him die, saw the empty tomb and then saw him after he rose from the dead. They committed the rest of their lives spreading the good news. They believed.
What about you?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year