by Mary Bradley AMMM             England                            11.12.2023

Editor’s Note: Mary Bradley, an Associate member of MMM, edits an online Justice and Peace Newsletter from her home parish in England. Her Christmas reflections are so uplifting, it is a joy to share them with a wider audience this Christmas season.

CHRISTMAS STAMPS: Again this year our UK Christmas stamps are depicting the true meaning of Christmas. The second-class stamp says “O hear Angel voices” with an image of an elegant angel, with a yellow halo and rainbow wings, hovering above the darkness in the star-studded night. The overseas £2.20 stamp is more colourful with the three kings following the ”star of wisdom, star of night”.

CHILDEN AND CAROLS: This morning I wandered into our church for a short time of prayer and had a surprise. About 50 children were there from our parish school, rehearsing for our carol service in December. They were all ages, lively and exuberant. Among them were children with disability and special educational needs. The performance was amazing, the children sang with such enthusiasm, and it was a very special moment for me to see them all happy and with such caring teachers. At the end of their performance, they formed a ‘walking bus,’ each child with their bright yellow visibility jackets. As they sang of “Peace on earth”, this was a moment of hope for the future and for our young people and for us to preserve planet Earth for their future.

A MOTHER’S LOVE: I had the experience this week of spending an hour in a hospital outpatient clinic waiting area. There were only a handful of us there, including a young mother with her little daughter of about four years old. The little girl was in a large pram and unable to stand, use her hands normally or communicate by normal speech. But there was such love and joy visible between mother and child as they played together and as she gurgled, laughed, and expressed herself in her own way. I thought of Jesus and his mother Mary and what a prophetic witness to love and joy that mother and her child are to us in the frenetic haste and bustle of our world today.