Always Hope

This week brought us a new entrant on the stage of popular theological debate: Netmums alerted the nation to the imminent demise of the " traditional nativity play ".  Mums are concerned, or in some cases, disappointed or even disgusted by their children's schools cavalier treatment of the Nativity, at a number of levels. Even those schools which haven't dispensed with it altogether, we learned, subvert the classic form by introducing a range of characters who can only be described as extra-biblical, including Elvis, Alan Sugar, spacemen, "a lobster", and, pushing the definition of "characters" to the limit, recycling bins. None of which is news to any long-serving parent, especially those of us who had more than one offspring and consequentially sat through a decade or more of school Christmas performances, grinning fixedly at the antics of the fairies, reindeer, and angels in the syncretistic nativity of modern Britain. Nor is it news to any pa...

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem  the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.   He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him  and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,   and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. We sometimes think of the Christmas story as being tinged with stardust and a little magic, especially late on Christmas Day when the memory has been blended with Doctor Who and the Strictly Christmas special. And yes, there are angels and glory and and a star in the East. But the event itself is uncompromisingly ordinary. The blood and pain of childbirth, the everyday miracle of a baby's first breath, a young mum making the best of what she had in difficult circumstances. And it is ...

O little town of Bethlehem, h ow still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and dreamless sleep t he silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth t he everlasting Light. The hopes and fears of all the years a re met in thee tonight. These words will be sung by thousands tonight, and regarded by most of them as harmless sentimentality, which may or may not be a bad thing, depending on your point of view.  But I've always found it the most profound and challenging of Christmas Carols. I've noted this year, having more time for observation than I used to, the controversies stirred up in the media by opponents and defenders of religion. The Advent season brings Richard Dawkins out of the woodwork as reliably as daybreak makes the birds sing, and everybody else joins in the fun. Media pundits queue up to offer their views on the state of the Christian religion, the Church of England, and the future of Christmas itself, and meanwhile the churches engage...

So, the Church of England's latest PR coup is to sign Jo Brand to jolly everyone to go to their local carol service this Christmas time. Jo writes: "As usual, I am looking forward to going to church this Christmas. I'm not really a churchy person but I do think Jesus was a good bloke. The singing of carols and the churches decorated with nativity scenes remind me of my childhood ..when it always seemed to be snowing". What japes! And in a Saturday exclusive, Always Hope can reveal that this is only the first of a number of celebrity endorsements secured by the C of E this year. We bring you the rest: Bruce Forsyth: "the church's Christmas special is one of the highlights of the broadcasting year. Candles twinkling, Jesus on top of the tree, it gives us a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Yes, I'd love to appear, thank you very much, no fee, it's not for the money you know." David Cameron: "I love Church, Christmas and all that kind of thing....

God rest you, merry gentlefolk, Let nothing you dismay Remember Christ our Saviour Was born on Christmas Day To save us all from Satan's power When we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy; O tidings of comfort and joy!

The BBC's Nativity has gone down a storm, with everyone from Christian twitterati to hard-bitten journalists queueing up to heap tributes on it. And why not? This blog joins the chorus, with a big thumbs up. It would be tempting to say that the success lies in the power of the story, which would be true only up to a point. There is power there, but The Nativity allowed the story to speak, when it could very easily have strangled it at birth. In different hands this could have been a complete disaster. That it wasn't is due to some fairly basic values. Firstly, the casting and direction. This was essentially a character-driven TV drama in four parts, and such programmes stand or fall on the quality of the acting, which in this case, was strong across the board, with very few weak links. Pride of place must go to Tatiana Maslany , who was flawless as Mary. She carried the whole thing from start to finish with a perfect combination of vulnerability and steel, a Mary far remov...

Today the story of Delia Knox has jumped out of Christian subculture into the mainstream UK media, with this story on the Daily Mail website. Knox is filmed leaving her wheelchair after being prayed for at the Bay of the Holy Spirit Revival in Mobile, Alabama. Watch the 13 minute video embedded there, if you can. Most people will have one of two reactions to this: either you will be deeply moved, or you will find yourself overwhelmingly cynical about the whole thing. The second of the two seems to be the reaction of choice for Mail Online readers, who queue in droves in the comments section to pour scorn on the whole thing. Why are people sceptical about spiritual and miraculous healing? Mostly because they simply don't believe it. The prevailing secular atheist worldview has no slot available for this kind of thing - it simply doesn't happen (although a more thoughtful and informed atheist might allow for some kind of psychosomatic factor in healing). But even among those w...