16th December
Clubs, Interrupted
Are you a member of any clubs?
Perhaps your children are. I'm a member of a local writing group, although my children are now 26 and 20, I spent much of their childhood ferrying them round between one club and another.
In fact, it used to be a bit of a relief when term ended and the clubs were disrupted over Christmas.
There is, of course, one club that not only doesn't close over Christmas but for whom Christmas is the busiest time of year.
I speak, of course, of the church, the biggest club in the world, to whom around a third of the world's population of members. But unlike many other clubs, the church doesn't exist exclusively to serve as membership.
In fact, it was originally created primarily for its non-members. And this can be seen perhaps most clearly today at Christmas when those who never normally come into church during the year suddenly come flooding in, drawn in by Nativity services, Christingles and Midnight Masses.
As a member of the ministry team at our church, I get so excited by the opportunity of this time of year to open people's eyes to the true meaning and sheer wonder of Christmas to help them to see that our reality is far more amazing and mysterious than we can ever imagine.
And this is why, as a Christian writer, I also try to write not just for committed churchgoers but also for those on the fringe, the seekers, the curious, the non-members that Jesus came to invite in.
So this Christmas, let's all be intentional about disrupting any sense of exclusivity in our churches and take the opportunity to welcome in as many non-members as possible to the greatest club on earth.
