Driving to Lichfield in the dark and the fog, with an outside temperature of -5 and plenty of cars on the road, I was delivered a moment of joy when I heard the programme announcers tell the listening world of a piece of cheering pre-Christmas news. The bungee-jumping, jet skiing political party leader, Ed Davey, had teamed up with a choir of young carers to record an original song.
Many will already know of the party leader's support for young carers, which grows out of his own life experience as a young carer to his mother, and his caring responsibilities now to his teenage son, John. The recording brings together the Bath Philharmonia orchestra and their Young Carers’ Choir to record a version of their self-written song, Love is Enough and the money raised will go to support the work of the Carers Trust and Bath Philharmonia, not political party funds.
Not only was this news, and the song itself, a cheering moment because it was fun, but because here we saw people singing from their hearts of beliefs that were deeply important to them.
Through the burdens and the chaos
we're trying again
we'll hold you and guide you and lead you through.Believing and dreaming and pushing through
'cause love's so much more than a game for two.
It's raising us up so that we are one
and in the end, when the race is run
you'll learn to see
love is enough.
As Christians we are used to singing our faith, from our hearts, on a weekly basis in church and in the run up to Christmas we often sing of our faith in public, if we go carol singing. It was the ‘Top 10’ Advent / Christmas carol, ‘In the bleak mid-winter’, written by one of the Victorian era’s finest poets, Christina Rossetti, that came to my mind as I listened to the radio news article on that frosty morning this week.
Our God, heaven cannot hold him
nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away
when he comes to reign:
in the bleak mid-winter
a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.
In the midst of the ‘burdens and the chaos’ (to quote the Young Carers song) as well as the joys of our lives and the life of our families, communities, churches and the wider Church, we are reminded that even heaven itself cannot hold our God and his love for each one of us. God came to earth at the first Christmas and a stable place was enough. No one would choose to give birth in a stable, but it was the birth place chosen for the Saviour of the World. Bethlehem itself was regarded as a lowly place, but it was chosen for the Son of God. The message is clear that in our ‘burdens and chaos’, when we feel unworthy and unprepared, in the places we feel are not good enough and where we feel less comfortable, where there is challenge to overcome and difficulty to face, God is with us - ‘Emmanuel’.
As we wait, through this season of Advent, to celebrate the birth of Jesus our Redeemer, let us draw close to God, trusting in his redeeming love. Let us hand over the ‘burdens and the chaos’ and know, in return, that God’s love, shown to the world in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, is enough.
Rt Revd Sarah Bullock
Bishop of Shrewsbury.
main photo: Liberal Democrats