A STORY of hope is being told across the country this Christmas, according to a new video published by Church House on Friday.
The video, which features a range of voices, including the Archbishop of York, and children dressed for a nativity play, begins with a reference to Christmas apparently being “cancelled”.
“That’s news to us,” the video continues, before listing a number of ways that Christmas is being celebrated across the country.
The message comes the day before a carol service in central London organised by the anti-immigration campaigner Tommy Robinson, which is being promoted with the slogan “Put Christ back into Christmas.”
The Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker, said on Friday that it was “offensive” that people were “appropriating this great Christian festival of light triumphing over darkness as a prop in a dim culture war”.
Writing in The Independent, Dr Walker said that claims of Christmas being “taken away” were made every year. “The people behind these stories are not doing this to share the message of Christmas — of joy and love — but to spread division,” he said.
He exhorted Christians and non-believers to “look up towards the angels proclaiming peace on Earth and goodwill to all, rather than scroll down in the comments”.
Dr Walker joins the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, in expressing concern about Mr Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom” event (News, 10 December).
On Wednesday, Bishop Chessun and the suffragan bishops in his diocese — Dr Rosemarie Mallett, Dr Martin Gainsborough, and the Rt Revd Alastair Cutting — said that “any co-opting or corrupting of the Christian faith to exclude others is unacceptable, and we are gravely concerned about the use of Christian symbols and rhetoric to apparently justify racism and anti-migrant rhetoric”.
Earlier this week, the Bishop of Kirkstall, the Rt Revd Arun Arora, warned that “populist forces” were “seeking to exploit the faith for their political ends”. His comments, and a poster campaign depicting the nativity in a bus stop, provoked a furious response from the organisers of the Unite the Kingdom carol service (News, 9 December).
Both Dr Mallett and Bishop Arora are featured in the Church of England-branded video released on Friday.
The full text of the video, which features over 20 different speakers, reads: “Every year we hear stories that somehow Christmas is being cancelled, or that somehow the joy of Christmas is under threat.
“That’s news to us, because in every church, every parish, every cathedral, in every corner of our country, you will find a story of hope, joy, and love.”
“You can find Christmas in a school nativity, in a candlelit carol service proclaiming the good news from the angels, in a crib service with Baby Jesus, in open air carols in the streets.
“It’s Christmas, it belongs to us all, and everyone’s invited. Whether you’ve been going to church for 50 years or five minutes, or have never been before, come and spend Christmas at a church near you.”