From the Interim Moderator

It is a familiar complaint, but I’ll make it none the less. Every year, the Christmas decorations seem to be going up earlier. If you welcome this trend, you are probably in a very small minority. Nearly everyone I speak to thinks it should at least be December before the first fairy lights come out.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be saying this – too many illusions may be shattered – but I approach Christmas with a mounting sense of dread. It is, as many love to remind me, a busy season, but then so is Easter, and I don’t dread it in the same way. I think my problem is that Christmas brings such a weight of expectation and when expectations are so high, failure to meet them becomes almost inevitable. Will the Christmas services be both traditional enough to feel like Christmas has always been and different enough not to feel like Christmas was last year? Will people like the presents I give them? Will I send Christmas cards to all the people I should send them too? Will the turkey be cooked properly when I take it out of the oven? Will I maintain an unflinching spirit of Christmas good cheer to one and all? I’d better stop before I become paranoid.

But here is a paradox. Christmas is about a complete surprise. People were hoping for something, but they were not expecting it then, or in this form. The Jewish people were hoping for a messiah, but few thought to look in a barn among farm animals, or thought that the long-awaited one would be born to unmarried, working class parents from an obscure village.

We all love our traditions, especially our Christmas ones. They are personal to us. But this Christmas, let us try to remember the surprising, unexpected nature of God’s gift of his son. And maybe the things we dread will not seem quite so important.

Vacancy update

There is little to report by way of progress towards filling the vacancy. We are up against a lot of competition in seeking to attract a minister. Life and Work, as readers will know, has been carrying around five pages of advertisements for vacant charges in each of the issues since the Nominating Committee placed our advertisement. There are fewer ministers qualifying than there are vacancies and ministers in charges are tending not to move as readily as was the case some years ago.

What can we do. First, and most importantly, continue to uphold the Nominating Committee and its work in prayer. This is something we can all do and is, in many ways, the most important thing we should be doing. And second, keep your ears open. It may be that you might hear of a minister who is open to the idea of a move, who is perhaps on a contract or in a non-parochial appointment. The nominating committee would love to hear about any such ministers, and will do all in its power to encourage an application to be made.

Sandy Horsburgh