People do not forget the church at Christmas. In fact, it's a time when more people turn to the church. When people walk through the doors of a church at Christmas time, they have an expectation that we're going to show them the story and make them feel at home in it. And if we don't do that, we've failed.
It's an opportunity to connect with people, so we go leafleting from door to door before Christmas. That's just reminding people that we're there for them and it's a chance for the community to come together in whatever form.
A lot of people are lonely at Christmas. London is one of the lonliest places in the world for many. If they don't have family or whatever the story is, Christmas can be an alienating time for them. So being part of a community can be safe and anonymous. People need that. Lots of people also come to church for space - sometimes partly because the find the forced jollity of Christmas difficult to deal with. People escape from that and come for quiet reflectiovn.
It's important to be sensitive. I've got pretty much the largest Jewish community in Europe on my doorstep in north London, and an increasingly large Muslim population. Interfaith relations is something I've done a lot of, so I'm sensitive that the message of Christmas needs to be an embracing one, not a distancing one.
Some people can be very cynical about people who only come to church at Christmas. But actually I think it's important. The fact that they claim us – rather than the other way round – is really significant, I think. They feel that the story we're telling is something they can feel part of. And it's such an important story.
It is the most scandalous thing that Christianity claims that God becomes one of us. That's a pretty big claim and no other religion makes it. So the opportunity for us to express what it means to be a human being is incalculable at Christmas.
Christmas is a really important time for our charity work. We raise money for the Children's Society and we also collect Christmas presents for children in a town in Sierra Leone, where we have a link. That's become really popular, and it's an opportunity to remind people what it means to be able to give.
We have a really great choir in the church, so we do a very traditional carol service lit by candles on the Sunday before Christmas. We also do a candle-lit midnight mass, which challenges my sight but is a great privilege. And then we have another service on Christmas Day. I've got three children, so I'm lucky that, after that morning service on Christmas Day, I can spend time with my family.
Of course Christmas has become more commercialised and more secular. But Christianity doesn't exist in a box: it should relate to the whole of life. So actually, the fact that Christmas is embedded in our focus on family, eating, drinking and playing party games, is fine, because that's what matters in life.
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