Club Chaplain Rev Alan Bolding shares a festive message with West Ham United supporters...
Merry Christmas everyone!
We look like we’re finishing the season on a real high and have got back to winning ways and are moving up the Premier League table.
Christmas is the time of year when we celebrate God coming to the world as the baby Jesus, but why did God do it?
It reminds me of a story of a man walking in the park and seeing some pigeons feeding on the grass, picking up seeds and insects, and becoming intrigued as he stood there watching them.
The man got even more interested and took a few steps forward. The pigeons did not stop feeding, but merely turned their heads slightly and kept one eye on him.
The man got even more interested and took a few more steps forward, but then the pigeons flew away.
The man thought ‘I’m not going to harm them. I just wanted to be near them’, but then he realised that to be near them, to be one of them, to fly with them, he had to become a pigeon himself.
If God had revealed himself as God into the world, we would have all been frightened and run away, so instead he became the human baby Jesus.
To see the baby Jesus, the shepherds came down from the hillside, the wise men travelled hundreds of miles, but today we do not have to travel at all, because Jesus comes to us, if you want him to.
While Christmas is a time of joy and giving for many, I know Christmas can be a difficult time for some people, and I pray everyone is surrounded by God’s love and He gives you His peace and His joy.
I wish you all a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Come on you Irons!
Rev Alan Bolding
Club Chaplain