I expect some of you will have seen the programme on TV entitled ‘Hugh’s war on waste.’ The River Cottage chef has been campaigning to get people to throw away less and trying to get the public and supermarkets to buy and sell vegetables that are not ‘perfectly shaped. If you saw the programmes you will recall the mountain of parsnips that had to be thrown away because they weren’t perfect enough for the retailer and the field of cabbages that was destroyed because the leaves didn’t meet the specifications. I am sure we would all agree that this is a terrible waste when many people in this country struggle to put food on the table.
It will soon be Christmas when we celebrate the birth of the Christ-child who grew into a man, who ministered among and to those who were not ‘perfectly shaped,’ holding out his hands to them and inviting them to dine with him. He ate with `tax collectors and sinners’ and for not perfectly shaped humankind he died on the cross.
We know that over 2,000 years later we are loved just as we are and we will never be rejected by God. We are held in the palm of his hand…whoever we are, whatever we do, wherever we are on life’s journey, God is with us.
At Christmas we hear these words ‘A virgin will become pregnant and have a son and he will be called Immanuel’ (which means ‘God is with us’) What a wonderful gift this Christmas time.
I trust our Advent worship and Carol Service will be a spiritual time for us all.
I wish you a happy, peaceful Christmas and every blessing for 2016.
Margaret
Trustee of Tabor