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In his Christmas message Presbyterian Moderator Dr Trevor Morrow has expressed his concern for "the most vulnerable and hurting people" at Christmas and particularly the victims of violence.
Christmas brings out the child in me! I love the excitement and anticipation, the decorations and the lights, the carols and the mince pies.. The whole mood which Christmas evokes, I find enjoyable. This is not so for many, many people.
An old Elvis Presley song describes how they feel. "It will be lonely this Christmas without you" I'm thinking of young people who don1t have a boyfriend or girlfriend and have never been invited to a party or a disco. The Yuletide festivities simply reinforce their sense of worthlessness and inadequacy. Or, what of our senior citizens who are housebound or widowed? They have their memories of Christmases past; they remember the special moments with their spouse and extended family. They didn1t have much then but they felt loved. Now, it seems they are a burden on others and Christmas merely reinforces their sense of being "Home Alone"
And what of the victims of what we have, euphemistically, called "The Troubles"? These are the people who carry in their hearts a pain too deep for words. What they have seen and experienced has left them indelibly scarred. Their feeling of loss is now reinforced with a moral awareness of injustice. Grief at any time is hard to bear but for them, our Christmas camaraderie merely underlines for them their loneliness and isolation.
My concern for these, who are the most vulnerable and hurting people, is that they might hear again what is at the heart of the Christmas message: "Immanuel" God is with us. Our primary security and worth is in being loved by God. So, in order that we might never be alone again, God has come in Jesus Christ to be with us always. Christmas means that God is not only for us but with us.
Trevor WJ Morrow.
Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
Issued by Stephen Lynas, Presbyterian Information Services. Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
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