The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Submitted by Reverend Greg Parker, Northminster Memorial United Church As this is being written, the frantic Òbusy-nessÓ of the season has most of you frazzled and preoccupied. Some of that is good. That is the part that involves waiting for friends and relatives to come, or to prepare to go and see them. Much of the rest sadly is finding ways to buy joy and warm feelings. As this is being read, I pray that there is time to reflect and take a quiet moment. During all of this busy time, the people in the hospitals and living by themselves were still there, their day the same one day after the next. For many, Christmas will be just another day and a sad one at that. With family and friends gathered together, it is a perfect opportunity to gather at a seniors residence to meet and sing a song or two, even for an hour. I guarantee that it will be the highlight of Christmas for many. Those who cannot get out or welcome people can still be called and hear a voice. In times past we would assume that family structures would do many of these things. However, families are different today. They are much more scattered and splintered for many reasons. Many people are basically alone all of the time and have no one nearby for them. Those people have memories of Christmas past and family just as we do. An hourÕs time to share with them would be golden during this season of love and hope. Christmas is lights and activity, but it can be stress and over-activity too. I hope we can all find the time to reflect on a child born in a humble place to poor teenagers who somehow found the courage and faith to carry on. Jesus did not have a message of buying happiness or substituting Òbusy-nessÓ for real activity. His focus was on giving and receiving...giving and receiving love and care. His message was to reach out for those who are hard to reach and to look for the lost and hungry and set aside in our midst. We should enjoy the time we have for our friends and relatives at this time. It is often an only chance to be with some of them until next year. As we do, I pray we can all find the moments of contemplation of the real meaning of JesusÕ birth, and the reaching for those who are set aside.
