Christmas 2023’s digital resources unwrapped: join the Digital Labs team for an interactive session looking at the resources available for this year’s Christmas campaign. Sign up to join this webinar, held on Wednesday, 11 October. Christmas 2023's digital resources unwrapped: Join the Digital Labs team for this interactive session to look at the resources available for this year's Christmas campaign. Sign up to join the webinar on Wednesday 11 October.

Last Christmas, churches across the Diocese of Gloucester extended ‘The Great Invitation’ from the Church of England to Follow the Star to their local church in person once again. More than 120,000 copies of Church House Publishing’s #FollowTheStar booklet were sold – 50% more than the figure for #GodWithUs in 2017. The reflections written by Revd Dr Isabelle Hamley, chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, were very positively received and widely used in print, our app and Alexa It could be that you’re hoping to see an increase in the attendance of children and young people at your services and events. Or perhaps that more people in your local community will engage with your Christmas content this year. Whatever your goal is, make sure you are clear on what you’d like to achieve, and then ask yourself how the Join the Song resources can help you to meet this goal. How can you use digital platforms to help you get the word out?

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The booklets were a lovely present to give to parishioners and friends as a special Christmas present”

There is a wonderful lesson for us right there – these three (or four, or however many) met God in the midst of doing what they were supposed to do: they were at work. God is not limited to meeting with us in a certain place (a church) or at a certain hour (11 AM Sundays). God can and does speak to us ANYWHERE and ANYTIME. The lesson is BE ALERT! Lots of legends have grown up around this story of the Three Kings, one of which is that they were “three kings.” The gospel account does not say there were three of them…or five or ten or thirty. The idea of THREE KINGS came when the three gifts were given – one each. (Some wag has suggested that there were actually FOUR kings, but the fourth one’s gift was a fruitcake, so he was not allowed in.) Names and personal descriptions have even been assigned: Caspar – young, beardless, ruddy complexion; Balthazzar – a bit older, dark-skinned, a new beard; Melchior – old, grey hair, long beard.(2) Really? We have no idea.Lesson 1: Just as the Wise Men, be ready to meet God in the midst of our everyday activities, then get up and follow the star; An invitation to all choirs and singing groups to sing a new version of ‘The First Nowell’ – listen to a preview.

What about their being kings? Probably not. Matthew calls them “wise men from the East”– MAGOI in the Greek (which is where we get our term MAGI) – probably astrologers which explains why they would have noticed and then been so excited about coming across something unusual in the sky. As they would later say to Herod, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.” Not unheard of in that day – the idea that heavenly signs marked the births and deaths of great leaders was widely accepted.(3) What they saw excited them, even enough to make them drop what they were doing and follow the star. The family prayer card contains an angel-themed activity, either to be given away or made during a service. Starting on Christmas Eve and continuing daily (Monday to Saturday) until the Epiphany (6 January), these reflections will help you make space this Christmas. On each of the 12 days, a different contributor will share something that speaks of a Christmas invitation for them, bringing the theme to life through a mixture of personal story, Bible reading, reflection and challenge. This year’s theme – Follow the Star: Join the Song – highlights how singing can help draw us closer to God and each other through the journey from Advent to Epiphany. Centuries later, singing is still central to how millions of people celebrate the good news of Christmas. Singing and hearing carols can enable people of all ages to get in touch with the wonder and the truth of the Christmas story.

You are not alone this Christmas

Another lesson is in their willingness to take action. They could have noted the appearance of the star in their log books, indicated their conviction that this phenomenon probably heralded something or someone very special, and then gone about their business. But no. They put commitment to their conviction, feet to their faith, and commenced a journey (which was no doubt difficult and dangerous at times) all because they knew, at the end, they would finally meet the new king. When God presents us with some new opportunity, are we willing to get up off our rusty-dusty and begin a journey of faith? The story of the Wise Men says there is something special that awaits at the finish. As before, the theme this year will be used on social media to encourage people to attend services through Advent and Christmas, with a focus on singing — a pastime banned for much of the pandemic, putting paid to choirs and carol services. For each day from Christmas Eve to the Eve of Epiphany (5 January), he offers a short reading from the Bible, a reflection challenging you to see the Christmas story afresh, an invitation to wonder what this Christmas means in your own life, and a prayer to help you treasure this story in your heart.