‘I'm late; I'm late for a very important date. No time to say "Hello", "Goodbye" I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, And when I wave, I lose the time I save. My fuzzy ears and whiskers took me too much time to shave.’

 We are all familiar with the white rabbit in the tale of Alice in Wonderland. His frenetic dash through life with a firm eye on the clock is a vision many of us can identify with. In an age of easy, modern transport, houses full of labour-saving gadgets and the ready availability of food, it is ironic that we seem to have less and less time. It is easy to focus on our own to-do list and miss those things, or people, on the periphery.

Christmas typifies our fast-paced living: we are constantly reminded of how many shopping days there are until the big day. Christmas has become a consumer-fest where there is a very real danger of purchasing becoming a priority over people.

How many of us dash in and out of the shops in shopping malls with one eye on our watches? Have we noticed who may be seated quietly and alone on one of the seats?

‘Some years ago I set up and ran the Sunshine in a Shoebox appeal whereby several schools decorated shoeboxes and filled them with goodies for those over 65 who were living alone. When I collected them, I would speak to the children about the isolation facing so many older people at this time of year. I have never forgotten visiting many of those homes and personally delivering them. All too often we really don't notice loneliness that is right on our doorstep.’

Beneath the tinsel and wrappings there are folk today for whom the coming celebrations are anything but. For people, spending Christmas alone, it can be a time of extreme loneliness and isolation. Yet it only takes a minute or two of our very busy schedules for us to show we care. As the proverb says, they who refresh others will themselves be refreshed (there are some excellent self-care recommendations in a recent mental wellbeing article on Movement Online), so I want to ask these questions of us all as we move through Advent to the celebration of the birth of Christ: what will we give most attention to? Will it be the tinsel and turkey? Making quite sure our church services run to perfection?

I suggest it’s not a question of either or but rather placing the Christ who came to love unconditionally all people at the heart of all we think and do.

By Rev. Chris Frazer