17th December
Food Interrupted
I love Christmas dinner; with all the trimmings: pigs in blankets, bread sauce, the works. Most people could easily think that its the big Christmas dinner that is the highlight of the day. Imagine Christmas, without that!?
Actually more than enough people don’t need to imagine that. Many don’t have the means to make that possible, or haven’t got family or friends to make it worthwhile.
I remember one year our Christmas day was rudely interrupted. My wife and were both full of flu and we had to stay in all day. I can’t remember what we did for food. But you know what, we had a really lovely day, really relaxed cozied up enjoying each other’s company all day.
When I think back over many Christmases it isn’t the food I remember. Just like in my book Communities of Hope: although it tells the story of setting up lots of foodbanks and community hubs, I say more than once: it’s not about the food! You can interrupt the Food, that isn’t what makes Christmas or any other celebration special. It won’t be the food you remember but you might remember good times with family and friends, daft games, dad’s snoring, mum completely hopeless at charades and a terrible cheat at scrabble. Good times.
I can also remember wonderful times of celebration in church. Our Christmas nativity plays sometimes turned into a bit of a pantomime, crazy but a lot of fun. And also a time to stop; interrupt everything else, even the big Christmas feast. To give thanks for each other and thanks for Jesus and the hope we have in him.
