Small gestures help to spread the true meaning of Christmas

There’s something about the beauty of a hard frost that always makes me feel like the world has been glittered overnight so it’ll sparkle in the morning and show us that even in this cold, dark, often difficult time of year, there is beauty.

The trait of treasuring joy and hope found in unexpected places is a central theme of this season.

Such heartwarming kernels of joy can be generated from even the most basic of things, sharing a smile, making the time to sit and have a cuppa with someone, listening to someone’s story, and having them hear yours.

I’ve learnt that the gamechanging love that Christmas should be centred on isn’t found around the tree, under shiny paper, or at the bottom of a glass, but rather in people.

Last month at Holy Trinity, Southwick, we started opening our doors on a Tuesday teatime for a Winter Warmer meal, open to anyone and everyone who wants to come.

Seeing folk gather around a table for food, making new friends, setting time aside for old ones, expanding our horizons and understandings of who makes up our family, our church, our community. Such things, moments and places are joy-generators.

So maybe when the frost comes and the world feels dark and slippy, precarious and dangerous, stop, pause, look for the sparkle, find the joy and enjoy the beauty that is there, alongside your doubts, fears and burdens.

It might be small, but it will be there. Let’s find it together.