Minister’s Page

Minister: Rev. Raheel Arif

Tel: 01324 819149

Thanks for the Harvest

Dear friends,
Good news!
I am bringing you good news of great joy that is for all people: today a Saviour has been born to you in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10, 11)
What sort of stories makes it into the news? Just occasionally an inspiring event or heart – warming action may hit the headlines, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred the latest reports are dominated by doom and gloom: another conflict, another rise in unemployment, another political scandal, another grim set of economic figures, another famine, another natural disaster, and so on.
We grow so used to bad news that we come to expect it, life being seen as intrinsically negative.
Compare that with the announcement of the birth of Jesus. It wasn’t simply news; it was good news, the best there could be, glad tidings of great joy for all people!
Why? Because it has changed everything for ever.
Yes, bad news still continues, just as real and bleak as it has always been, frequently hard to bear and testing us to the limit, but it will not be allowed to have the final word.
Light will replace darkness, love will conquer hatred, good will triumph over evil, life will defeat death.
That’s what the gospel is all about; that’s what the birth of Jesus is for: not any demands that God puts upon us, still less warnings of judgement and punishment if we fail to toes the line, but the glorious message of his in Christ from which nothing on earth or in heaven will ever be able to separate us.
So, friends, on Christmas we have something to celebrate and something to share, good news to make known to all. The story of Christmas is a good news not just for the believers but for everyone.
Let us share the love and story of the incarnation of Jesus with all those around us and remember to pray and support all those in our communities and across the borders who don’t have enough to celebrate the joy of the birth of Jesus.
Through this magazine, I wish you all a very happy Christmas. God bless you.

Rev. Raheel Arif
Minister: Denny Old & Haggs