Tony Mayes - Harlow Baptist Church

This is my first Christmas in Harlow and I am looking forward to it as always. One of the things that Is important to me about Christmas is that amidst all of the busy buying, frantic preparation and over burdening of expectations for that one day … there is a beautiful sense of peace as I focus on what it is all about.

God intervened for humanity in such an incredible way that over 2000 years later we still want to sing the carols and feel the wonder as Christmas day approaches. I love the carols and the candles that evoke such a feeling of joy and wonder in me and others as they remind us how much God loves us and why Jesus came, to be our light and our saviour.

Alison Taylor - Potter Street Baptist Church

Well - the most important thing about Christmas is the greatest gift God gave us, Jesus Christ himself. Everything else is pointless and slips into insignificance as we look at the fact that God put skin on and came here to earth, to experience everything we experience, to show us what matters most - and to show us above all else that he loves us and had to take action to prevent humanity from self destruction. Well, whether we realise it or not that is what he did and all the celebration that surrounds that is truly deserved - if that is what we are celebrating, I shall be, feel free to join us at any of our services over Christmas and at 10am on Christmas Day. May Jesus Christ truly be the reason for our celebrations this Christmas.

Ron Kingsmill - Freshwaters Christian Fellowship

The most important thing about Christmas for me is celebrating the fact that God loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, into the World, not to condemn us but to save us. This is the gift we remember when we exchange gifts with family and friends.

As well as remembering God’s gift to us, it’s great to have fun. To enjoy God’s gifts of food and drink, friendship and family is wonderful and reminds me of when Jesus was a bit older, at a wedding party in Canaan. When the wine ran out, Jesus turned water into wine so the fun could continue. I hope everyone enjoys Christmas and as part of that enjoyment remembers God sent Jesus to give us life in all its fullness – that includes fun!

Dave Welch - St Mary's Church Old Harlow

In the present climate of financial difficulties and job insecurity people fi nd the security of home, job and money at risk and can experience a real sense of vulnerability. The things that looked so strong and sure in danger.

I am reminded at Christmas and even more starkly this Christmas that God came to us in Jesus, the baby born in a stable, vulnerable and under threat. By his birth, baptism and death on the Cross the first Good Friday, God identified with us in our weakness and need that through faith in him and all that he achieved on the Cross, including forgiveness of our self- centred lives that miss the mark where God is excluded (the Bible calls this ‘sin’). Jesus rose again and so destroyed the power of sin and death over our lives that we might have our identity with him in resurrection glory. Our security is secure in he who became fl esh for us, Emmanuel (God with us). This Christmas gift is ours now if we would only turn and put our trust in him. Where will we place our trust and put our security this Christmas, I wonder.

Wishing you all a Christ filled Christmas.

Sam Brazier-Gibbs Community Minister - Newhall, Church Langley & Old Harlow

There is so much I love about Christmas. I’m like the kid in the John Lewis advert – I can’t wait for it to come!

Among my favourite things are the twinkling lights around people’s homes, a welcome brightness in the darkness of December. They remind me of Jesus ‘the light of the world’ and why he came to earth as a baby that first Christmas.

The world seems so full of darkness: illness, grief, debt, relationship problems or the many things we all struggle with, it often feels like the darkness overwhelms us.

The message of Jesus’ birth is that there is hope in times of darkness, in the midst of the gloom there is a light that shines and shows us the way forward – Jesus himself.

In carol services we hear: ‘The light shines in the darkness and can never be put out’.

For me, the most important thing is knowing that Jesus can bring light in the darkness, a light that will never go out.