Pastor’s Thoughts – Christmas 2025

Dear friends,

The T-shirt read: ‘Maybe this year I’ll just jingle some of the way – I’m tired.’ It’s a lot of work, Christmas, and it is all in the hope that this will be a time of year when we experience joy and happiness.

I see three possible outcomes to that hope:

The first is that we will make ourselves happy by faking as much as possible. We will party like it’s the last opportunity to party; we will eat, drink and be merry, then we will eat, drink and be even merrier; we will buy every present we can and make sure we get exactly what we want; we will avoid Uncle Bert because we find him difficult, and Great Aunt Bertha because she’s losing it. We will put up our Christmas decorations on 1 November and take them down on 1 January even though Christmas doesn’t end until 5 January. Slade and Mariah Carey have been playing for weeks already, and we might even put up with a bit of Bing Crosby.

Now if that sounds like a cynical view of Christmas, I apologise, but for many of us Christmas itself is just an excuse to try and feel better about our lives.

The second is this:

We will try to avoid anything that looks like conflict. Happiness at Christmas comes down to survival. We never spend this much time together under one roof at any other time of the year, and the pressure of that grows each day. Everyone expects to have a good time, so if we are not having a good time then somebody will be to blame.

Now if that sounds like a bleak view of Christmas, I apologise, but for many this is the reality. More family break-ups occur after Christmas than at any other time of the year, and for a lot of people Christmas is followed by debt and difficulty.

The third outcome is that we are led by the joy of the season itself.

Luke 2:10 says: ‘...the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”’ This good news is not something that lasts for one season; it lasts for eternity. It is the best Christmas present that we can ever receive; it is the good news about Jesus. At Christmas we are celebrating the fact that the Almighty God has come to us as a baby, and He has not just come to us; He has come for us. God’s love for you and me is so great that the Eternal Son entered into the world as a human being. He was not on a sightseeing trip, although His coming means that He knows all about humanity from the inside out.

He came on a mission to save our lives and give us eternal life. What we celebrate at Christmas is not a fake hope, but a real and eternal hope. Now if that sounds idealistic, I don’t apologise, because this is God’s ideal for us. This good news is not something that lasts for one season; it lasts for eternity.

Perhaps in reality the likelihood is that these are not 3 distinct alternatives. It’s more likely to be like a Venn Diagram where several of these possibilities overlap in some way. No time together can be perfect. We are imperfect and something is always likely to go wrong. If you find the pressure of Christmas is too much, please talk to somebody about that, and make 2026 a year when you sort out these pressures. If you find that you are faking too much Christmas joy, then speak to somebody about meeting the real reason for the joy of Christmas and make 2026 a year when you find life in all its fulness.

The Lord God has entered into His creation and offered us life for all eternity. What better news is there than that?

This good news is not something that lasts for one season; it lasts for eternity.

For myself much of 2026 is an unknown quantity, and I find that both exciting and a little scary. Perhaps you too are unsure of where your future lies. I reminded myself as I was writing this of the famous lines that George VI delivered in his Christmas Address in 1939, as the nation stood on the precipice of a very precarious future:

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year. “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied. “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

My prayer is that this Christmas will be full of real joy for you all, and that you will know God’s presence and guidance as you head into 2026.

Grace and peace to you all,

John