One of my Christmas traditions is to get a book about the English language each year. My father, knowing my love of words, started this tradition a number of years ago, and over the years I have received some wonderful books, including ‘Have You Eaten Grandma?’ by Gyles Brandreth, ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ by Lynne Truss (on punctuation) and ‘That’s the Way It Crumbles’ by Matthew Engel. This year’s gift was ‘Word Perfect’ by Susie Dent which gives me an opportunity to expand my vocabulary one day at a time!

Today’s words include ‘apanthropy’, a ‘state of mind characterised by a love of solitude and a dislike of other people’, which made me smile, as this probably sums up many introverts during the festive period! Susie Dent writes, ‘a surfeit of human company pushes you to the point of latibulation, another pithy word, this time from Latin, from the act of hiding oneself in a corner.’ For me, it’s usually the kitchen where I hide; for my son, the bathroom! (We are dedicated introverts who definitely have a love of solitude!)

However, after twenty months of restrictions which have limited human contact, I have discovered I am not as averse to human company as I thought I was. I still need periods of time on my own to recharge and process, but more than ever before, I have learned the wisdom and truth of the Biblical statement, ‘it is not good for the man to be alone.’ (Gen 2:18)

We all need other people. We were made in God’s image, and the triune God is a God of community. Community and fellowship are essential to the Christian faith. We were not made to worship in isolation; we were not created to be apanthropic. We were made to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice (Rom 12:15). Fellowship enables us to focus on what our God has done for us, to share ideas, to be sharpened by the differences we find in each other, to learn to love each other selflessly. Fellowship is not something we can afford to lose or to be indifferent about. We need to spend time together: ‘not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.‘ (Heb 10:25)

That’s why we always try to start the New Year together over a meal, something we will be doing again this Saturday at 4 p.m. Fellowship is an essential part of God’s people gathering together, a reminder that this intergenerational group of people have Jesus in common and therefore we gather not just as random people but as the people of God. (1 Pet 2:9-10) We need each other more than we can ever realise.

Some days are etched in your memory for ever. This one, a blisteringly hot summer’s day in the 1980s, will always be part of my ‘favourite moments.’ I was on holiday in France, enjoying the sunshine and scenery of Provence, and we arrived at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, a tiny village nestled in a valley. This was in the days before air conditioning in cars and the journey there left us feeling jaded and almost too hot! My Dad, armed with his green Michelin guide, was confident this was a place of exceptional beauty: he was definitely not wrong.

The reason for the tiny village’s popularity was the spring flowing out of the 230 metre high cliff, a source of water which ultimately provides 360 million cubic metres of water every year. The spring poured into the river to create a beautiful shady pool under immense plane trees. The icy water provided relief from the sun’s heat as we walked down to the paper mill, trailing our fingers in the river as we meandered along. It was an idyllic scene, an oasis of calm and beauty.

This combination of powerful water and the cool, calm river reminds me of Jesus’ words in John 7 about the living water that can flow from within each one of us, a source of life to all. Refreshing, life-giving water, quenching thirst, cooling and sustaining all who experience it.

The paper mill showed us how to harness the power from the water to create paper. In the same way, God’s Spirit, flowing through us, will also be creative. God, the Maker of heaven and earth, is always doing new things and often chooses to work through His people.

In the darkness of winter, it’s good to remember those halcyon days of summer and reflect on the power of water to cleanse, refresh, re-energise and renew.

For some, Christmas Eve is a flurry of activity: shopping, cooking, cleaning. For me, Christmas Eve was always about celebrating my father’s birthday (usually with a meal out), watching the carol service from King’s College Chapel, Cambridge on television and preparing for Christmas Day itself with family. In some ways in my family, Christmas Eve was the day our Christmas celebrations really started (and in some countries, the special Christmas meal is eaten on that day and presents are opened then.) Now that I have a granddaughter whose birthday is on Christmas Eve, the birthday celebrations continue apace!

Many people attend church services on Christmas Eve, sometimes at midnight, so that they are in church to worship the new-born King as Christmas Eve turns to Christmas Day. However you choose to celebrate Christmas Eve, take a moment to be thankful for the reason for the season. Without Christ, there really is no reason to celebrate. With Him at the centre of our celebrations, we have hope, peace, love and joy and can face the uncertainties of the future with confidence that He will bless us and be with us always – Immanuel, God with us; Jesus, the God who saves.

I’m thankful for the fact that December was always the month for birthdays in my family. My uncle’s birthday was on 19^th December, my mother’s on 23^rd December and my father’s on 24^th December. I grew up celebrating birthdays in December and the fact that we have chosen to celebrate Jesus’s birthday on 25^th December was another reason to be grateful!

I don’t like the cold, so many of the reasons other cite for liking this season (snow, frost, cold weather) tended to pass me by. Nonetheless, this plethora of birthdays always put me in a good mood, and when my first grandchild was born on Christmas Eve too, that was a family tradition I was glad was continuing! It’s such fun to share her excitement at this time of year.

Having something to celebrate in the middle of winter, when darkness seems to proliferate, always seems a really good idea to me. We don’t know for sure when Jesus was actually born (and carols such as ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ are definitely more connected to English lyricism than Biblical fact!), but the fact that He was born is definitely something to celebrate. Luke’s gospel was written as an orderly account ‘so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.’ (Luke 1:4) We can be thankful because we are celebrating something that really happened, an event that, in the words of Ralph Stockman, shows us ‘the hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable.’

There are times when decisive action is the correct response to a situation, but there are also situations beyond our control where it’s better to wait before leaping to action. Some of us have personalities which are action-based; others are more cautious and reflective by nature. It can be difficult to recognise which response is required at any given time – both responses require courage and nerve, and wisdom is needed to know which response is necessary!

In fierce natural storms such as hurricanes or blizzards, sometimes the best response is to seek refuge until the storm has passed. This is David’s response in Ps 57:1 – “I will take refuge in the shadow of Your wing until the disaster has passed.” Heart pounding, fearful, uncertain and unnerved, it is not easy to hide in this manner.

Sometimes, ‘doing nothing’, taking refuge, hiding ourselves under God’s protective wings is precisely what we must do. We must lay down our arrogant thinking that we can fix every situation and lay down our pride which says we have all the answers and wait patiently for the salvation and deliverance of our God. We must ignore the clamouring voices for us to ‘do something‘ and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, allowing Him to raise us up.

If you’re quivering under God’s wings today, there’s no better place to be. There, our heartbeat can return to normal. The disaster, the storm, the calamity will pass. God can straighten us out and send us forth with new things to do. But there’s no shame in taking refuge in Him.