Barnhill St. Margaret's Parish Church
A Church of Scotland Parish
OSCR SCO 11017
A letter from the manse
Dear Friends
One of the ways in which we look at life and determine whether our lives are good or bad is often through economic things, material things, and relational things. We look at the TV and see people in mansions and people in new cars, and we think to ourselves, "They’re living the good life."
One of my favourite Christmas films is Charles Dickens classic story A Christmas Carol. It is the familiar story of Ebenezer Scrooge. At the beginning, he is wealthy but miserable. He is caustic, always complaining and of course, horrendously greedy. But then, after his encounters with the three spirits on Christmas Day, he is given a second chance at life.
After Ebenezer Scrooge becomes a man of eternal perspective.....
‘Some people laughed to see the alteration in him.
But he let them laugh and little heeded them....
His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.
And it was always said of him, that he knew
how to keep Christmas well,
if any man alive possessed the knowledge.'
At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, a man who changed history, and a man with the power to change our lives. He came into the world to redefine what the good life really is. The good life not being about toys and accumulation of things, but the good life being one in which we are loved by the Father, forgiven by the Son and sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Wherever you are this Christmas, at home or away, I pray that it will be a happy time with family and friends.
Your friend and minister
Susan