Everyday Church’s first official Christmas together was a good one – we had an amazing time welcoming guests to our Carol Services, gathering together on Christmas day and making a noise about the wonderful truth of the Nativity. Amongst all the festivity though, it was a privilege and a joy this Christmas to share some of the blessing which God has lavished on us as a church as we’ve been more practically involved in reaching out to those around us in need of some love and assistance. As a church, across our different venues, we packed 154 shoeboxes with gifts for children in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia through the Samaritan’s Purse initiative; we provided temporary accommodation to more than 25 guests by joining the Winter Night Shelter scheme; we delivered 6 huge Christmas hampers to families identified by the local council as living below the poverty line; we collected a whole heap of food for the Wimbledon Foodbank.

None of this reflection is to brag – we’re still very far from following in the widow’s footsteps by giving all that we can give. What’s amazing is the fact that God not only calls us to be recipients but also to be agents of his astounding love and grace: as a guest staying for the first time at the winter night shelter on Tuesday night put it, “I’ve never known love like this before; for someone like me it’s amazing…”