Page 1 - Moravian Messenger Dec 2021

DECEMBER 2021
messenger
moravian
'I love Christmas, I love everything about it, the anticipation on the faces of small children ...' These words were the beginning of a sermon I wrote over thirty- five years ago. It was so successful that I used it for every Advent service I conducted for some years! I finally stopped using it when my son came with me to a service and sat in the front row, lip-syncing the sermon! From that moment on I have used new material every week.
However, the truth is that I do love Christmas and Christmas in the Kesseler house has followed a fixed plan since our children arrived over 45 years ago.
If there are children in the house, they awake to their Santa gifts, and then after breakfast that will usually involve scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, it is off to church.
The bigger, family presents are placed around the Christmas tree and are not opened until we return and are then opened one by one, with the whole family sharing who got what from whom.
This we did with our children and now with our grandchildren and we love it. Until last year. Christmas 2020 was different for us all. We did manage to deliver our presents to our son and daughter and their families before the
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day, but we then spent Christmas at home, just the two of us. We went to church on Zoom, and that was lovely, and we spoke to the children on Facetime which was also lovely. However, no hugs, no kisses and no shared feelings of excitement.
It made me realise two things. Firstly, how lucky we are to have family close enough to visit on special days and secondly, how much I value either spending Christmas with them or having them descend on our house for the festivities. People often say that Christmas is a time for children, but for me it is a time for family. That is what we really missed in 2020.
continued overleaf on page 134
Report from Camp Aramis
(page 136)
Has COVID changed our perception of Christmas?
Pilgrimage Reflections
(page 138)
ClimateChange, Renewable Energy and Stewardship of God's Creation
(page 139)
Fulneck Heritage Day
(page 140)