Christmas message from the Bishop of Portsmouth Rt Rev Dr Jonathan Frost.

Christmas Message 2024

Transcript

00:00Dear friends, I wish you a light-filled and joyful Christmas.

00:15During the last year, I had the great privilege of visiting Ghana.

00:20The Church of England in South East Hampshire in the Isle of Wight is linked to the Church

00:26in Ghana and for many years we've enjoyed the exchange of ideas and people and faith.

00:33It's been a good thing.

00:35During the visit, we had driven many, many hundreds of miles.

00:40It was late at night and on our way to where we would rest for the night, we had a huge

00:47tyre blowout.

00:49There we were, side of the road, busy road, unlit, not the safest place to be, and struggling

00:57to get the wheel off.

01:00There we were with our little torches, shining light on the matter, but really stuck, unable

01:06to move, in an unsafe place.

01:11What happened next, and you probably anticipate it, has stayed with me.

01:16Someone on their way home after a long day's work, in a truck, saw us and decided to pull

01:23over.

01:24He put the floodlights on at the front of the truck, flooding the situation in light,

01:31and he had just the kit we needed to get sorted out, to get a new wheel on, with the spare

01:38tyre, and on our way.

01:42Light in the darkness.

01:44Light coming to shine away for those stuck on the edge of things.

01:51I think this is a lovely picture of Christmas, for at Christmas we remember God's light shines

02:00in Jesus.

02:01In a world where there's much darkness, we think of Syria and the Middle East, more generally

02:10Israel, Palestine, so much suffering and sadness, so much darkness to cope with.

02:17And it may be, I hope it's not the case, it may be that your life too has dark shades

02:22in it, and things that you struggle with, and things that make you uncertain about the

02:28way forward.

02:29I know that I do.

02:32This is where our faith in Christ, the Christ child, Son of Mary, is so important, and such

02:39a gift to the world, for the story of Christmas is the story of God's light flooding into

02:48the darkness, and the darkness not overcoming it.

02:53And this light of Christ shines today, for you and for me, shines in the lives of so

03:00many seeking to bring change and hope and a future to our world.

03:07I pray that this Christmas, you may discover afresh the light of Christ, welcome even,

03:15the light of Christ into your life and into your plans, that you may rejoice, as we did

03:23on the side of the road at those floodlights on the front of a truck.

03:27They brought light we didn't think possible, and that light enabled us to move forward

03:33joyfully into all that lay ahead.

03:37May you know the light of Christ, guiding you, flooding you with joy, this Christmas

03:44and in all the days that will follow.