Dear Everybody,

Christmas is now a fading memory, but bear with me!

At the two morning services on Christmas Eve ('Five Lessons and Carols' – an abridged version of the traditional 'Nine Lessons & Carols' – we'd have been leaving the Forge at tea-time if we had stuck with the tradition), we added our 'wishes' onto a big poster of the 'Make a Wish Christmas Tree'.

The two posters had been given us by Eastfield Primary School and I think I said at the time that it was touching that so many of the little cards already on the tree, written by children, were not for 'wannahave' presents of bikes or computer games or the latest 'must have' toy, they were for... people in Africa to have enough to eat... school children in the world to have nice schools... everyone in the world to be healthy and happy.
Little children with great big hearts.

During each of our services we added to the trees: the children of the Sunday School and J-Team ran around during the hymns distributing small white cards and pens, and then collecting them in again and sticking them on the trees. Thanks to the J‑Team and Sunday School for help – and also to Val!

After Christmas, it was more than I could do to bin all those anonymous wishes, so I read through them. It was a very moving experience. First, some of them written in children's careful writing - “A hamster, please” or “I would like a cat”. But there were many others in children's writing for people to be healthy and happy, all around the world, or for a cure to horrible diseases.

The ones in 'grown-up' writing also varied – many of them were for a cure for AIDS, or cancer, or more particular ones for friends or family. But one theme came up again and again and again, so often that it made the majority of these little white cards. And that was – peace, in all its forms. Peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, peace in the form of worldwide understanding and cooperation, or peace of mind for people who are distressed or grieving or depressed.

Peace. The old Hebrew word is 'Shalom', which actually means much more than our word in English – it's not just an absence of noise or war or distress; it is a positive thing, a kind of wholeness or togetherness.

It's that that Jesus promised his followers – Shalom – and just before he himself was to undergo torture and then crucifixion. As the season of Lent progresses towards the events of Holy Week, let's remember and give thanks for a God who shared our humanity, who knows what it is to feel pain and distress... and who, through his own suffering, offers each of us 'Shalom'.

Happy Easter!

Catriona

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