Chosen People: Called to Proclaim at Christmas.
During the last two years, I have had the enormous privilege of leading a Weaving Together Programme for Area and Unit leaders prior to the Seminar in each of our World Federation Areas. At these events, we have been able to form bonds of friendship and mutual support, share news of progress in our work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and we have used Ketso* to identify priorities for future action. We have worshipped together, prayed, danced, laughed and sometimes cried together. Best of all we have found encouragement and hope in the gospel story and proclaimed what God is doing in our midst now. Like the angels who announced the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, we share the good news of Emmanuel, God made man, living among us and bringing us the assurance that we are loved, forgiven, and part of the plan of salvation for all creation.
At each of these events, I have been able to distribute little knitted angels, a reminder of God’s angelic messengers whose task was (still is?) to proclaim the greatness of God and bring hope to a people who were struggling. The idea of the knitted angels began a few years ago in the UK where they are left in public places around Christmas (like shopping centres, libraries, bus stops and rail stations) with a message to the finder to take them home as a gift from their local church and receive a blessing in their message of hope.
Who has made these angels? Most of the angels I have taken around the world were made by Jeanne Mallett from St James Road Methodist Church in my circuit. With some help from a team of other women, Jeanne has supplied me with more than 300 angels. That’s quite an achievement! Thank you Jeanne!
The Weaving Together Programmes are over, as are all eight of the Area Seminars of this quinquennium. But the work of bringing hope to a struggling world continues. The message of the angels is needed still, perhaps more than ever. Let’s keep on proclaiming the glory of God through our worship, our relationships and through engaging in social action. In this way, we too will play our part in building the kingdom of God.
I wish you all a blessed Christmas and much reason to celebrate in 2020.
Your sister in Christ,
Alison
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