Coping with Christmas

• Work deadlines / end-of-year reports / forward planning meetings for 08
  


• City-centre shopping / out-of-town shopping / internet shopping / supermarket shopping
  


• Writing and sending cards
  


• Office parties / socials / school plays
  


• City-centre events / charity events / sports events
  


• Church services
  


• Wider family and friends / family - too much of or not enough of
  


• Pleasing the in-laws and grandparents
  


• Wanting a rest!
  


• Food - a glut of it / drink - a veritable surfeit of it
  


• Journeys to be made
  


• Relationships - a frenzy of them, sometimes stretching to breaking point after Christmas

What is Christmas really supposed to be about? How can we ensure a good lead-up to it?  Indeed, how can we make this the best Christmas ever?

Graham Dow, as his name suggests, rejoices in Scottish roots.  He is a loved, if at times controversial, leader in the Church of England.  He recently attracted media attention in the wake of the floods that affected England - but was misquoted, so no surprise there.  Two years ago he said that a stone in Carlisle inscribed with a 16th century curse should be removed. The curse was pronounced on Border Reivers by the Archbishop of Glasgow of the time.  When Bishop Graham comes to be with us, we will ask him to clarify whether the current Archbishop of Glasgow managed to come to Carlisle and perform a blessing in order to remove the curse. More relevantly, we look forward to Bishop Graham sharing with us his experience of how to avoid the downsides of Christmas as we have come to know it, and what Christmas can be really about.  Come along and lay the foundation for a stress-free run up to Christmas this year.