23rd March 2020. A date etched in UK history and one that will effect our lives for a long time to come. Boris Johnson the Prime Minster broadcasting himself on TV to tell us the simple but firm message. STAY AT HOME.

That was a year ago and over the last 12 months a lot has happened. Many people have unfortunately lost their lives to a virus we didn’t know existed 18 months ago. Let’s be honest it’s been difficult for everyone.

There hasn’t been a year in my life where it hasn’t at points been difficult for various reasons, but actually over the last 12 months we have had this difficult situation which has brought us all challenges we have had to face.

Whether it is loosing a loved one, not knowing what the future may hold, the rules consistently changes over time, trying to understand your own emotions, whilst supporting the others around you.

Sometimes it just feels like our lives are so messy. Waking up one day and wanting to take the world head on, waking up another and not wanting to get out of bed. One day you can see people you love, the next you can’t. Planning for things that might not happen. Working your socks off for something you don’t know is going to happen. This has been the story of the last 12 months and its messy. But one thing that I know is in the mess there is ALWAYS beauty.

Have you ever been in a food fight. I have. I was at a camp as a teenager, me and my friends sat down for our pudding it was jelly and squirty cream. We were the only ones eating, no one around and I don’t know who started it (although it wasn’t me!). I remember a handful of squirty cream being pied into my friends face, who responded by getting his jelly out of his dish and throwing it. Before I know, it was chaos, we were all messy and had cream all over our faces, there were bits of jelly everywhere. But there was a moment, where time slowed down, my friend Liam threw a bit of jelly at me. I saw the jelly leave his hand and I could see it coming to hit me in my face. I turn my head away but it wasn’t quick enough, the jelly hits my cheek but because its jelly it doesn’t break instantly, instead it wraps around my face and slowly breaks. I burst out laughing, he didn’t throw it that hard, I could just see it coming and the feeling was so weird. Then we all burst out laughing. We were covered, it was messy but yet it’s a moment I remember for that time of laughing rather than the hour it took us to clean ourselves, the tent we were in and to pick up the jelly off the floor. In the literal mess there was this beautiful moment I remember so well.

Do you just remember the mess or can you see the beauty?

When I look back at this year, I will remember clapping for the NHS, the legacy of Captain Tom Moore, the country pulled together rather than being pulled apart. I will think about the lives lost and the families behind them, it’s impossible not to but I will also think about the care given and the lives saved just because we all did our part. I will think about how millions have had their jab with many more to go and the work that has gone into something so impressive. I will think about the zoom calls with my young people where we have laughed, I will also remember the times they have been patient with me. There have been ups and downs and everything in between in the last year.
I wonder what you will think about? What are the moments? What are the highlight? What are the lowlight?

We can often look at a situation and just see the mess, we can just see the devastation. But there is always something more going on.  

In Romans 8 there is a famous verse (28) which reads like this “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
I think we read something like this in the bible and go one of two ways neither which I believe to be really helpful. One way is to deny it. You might say ‘God isn’t going to make this better’ or ‘God hasn’t stopped people from getting ill’ or even ‘God hasn’t stopped my exams from being cancelled.’ Whatever the statement might be for you its usually an expression of anger, and right now we have a lot we can be angry about. I think you are allowed to be angry but that doesn’t mean the verse isn’t correct. It just doesn’t feel like that right now. The second way we respond to this is by sitting back and saying God is just going to make this better I don’t need to do anything. I might pray occasionally but God has it. That is shifting responsibility and will not work.

What I think this verse is really saying, is that when we come through the other side of it you will be able to see the beauty in all of the mess.

One of the privileges of my job is listening to people. I hear where amazing individuals have been through so much, and in my heart my initial response is often, if I could take that away I would, but I realise that those moments are the same ones that have led them to be sat in front of me. Those people might not realise it yet but they are so incredible, I love working with them, and these are the moments that in their lives that have hurt but can be turned into something beautiful. I believe that is the process God is involved in.

For churches it has been messy, doors which have open every week for hundreds of years were shut. We moved online to cries of “you are on mute” or “I don’t know how this thing work”. We open our church doors but are then told to stay apart socially distant in the place where God calls us to be together. But there has been some beautiful things happening.

1 in 4 people nationally have engaged with some form of corporate worship online at least once a month. Prayer has increased during this time as well. With more people praying for the first time ever and more people praying more often. Spirituality in the under 30 age bracket is higher than any other generation right now. It seems that we have closed the church doors and become more accessible. I don’t know how to describe that in any other way but God working with us turning our basic efforts into something beautiful.

This last year has been messy yet God continues works with us. One year on we are now in the next phase of it all. Very slowly moving from trying to understand what has been happening, to now living with it. We need to continue to put on our masks, stay socially distant, get the vaccine and are careful not to continue the spread but God is with us. As we slowly go back to things that make us who we are, to seeing family, to doing whatever we love, to just carrying on with our normal messy lives. Its important to know that God has been with us this last year, turning mess into beauty. That has been something which has happened and will continue to happen not just in the last year but for the rest of time.
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Chris Mason

What is the worst bit about Christmas for you?
For some it might be when you receive a present you might not want… You know the moment where someone has bought you something that your not 100% sure about it but you force a smile and deep down you are grateful that they have got you this gift. If it’s a piece of clothing you might only wear it when they are around, or if its an ornament it gets hidden on shelf. You might even re-gift it! You never know someone else might like it a lot more than you do…

For some it might be sprouts, being forced to eat one because its ‘tradition’. It might be having to watch TV you don’t want, because Grandparents are around. Even monopoly might be frustrating because you have been playing for 6 hours because one person just wont land on your hotel!

It’s an odd question I’ve asked,  I know it is. However at the heart of all of these things that we might not like, at Christmas we are generally spending time with our loved ones. Yes you might exchange gifts, but actually, it is a time in our calendar year where people usually have a spare moment to share with the people they love.

However this year is going to be different.

This year has been really difficult for everyone, people have lost their jobs, not been able to see friends or families and far too many people are no longer with us. Those gifts are now been given on doorsteps, there is not as many people in our homes to play games like monopoly and those sprouts are now on the end of a 2m long fork…

 
We often look at the Christmas story as this happy event resulting in baby Jesus coming into the world and then everything is fine. However if you take the story and really look at it, I think for a lot of the story it’s often the opposite of happy. The story of a couple being isolated, getting taken away from everything they know, to have a baby in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t sound like an ideal time to me.

For Mary and Joseph non of this is how it was planned. It was them being stripped of all comfort, of all the things they rely on, and their world being changed forever. Speak to anyone that has ever had a baby, your parents are a good start. Ask them how life changed from the moment they had their first child.

I can tell you for Mary and Joseph, life definitely changed!

All of sudden in a moment, literally a heartbeat, and their whole world is turned upside down. Jesus is born and now they need to look after this other little human.

This wasn’t how they planned, this is not how they thought and dreamed of this moment to be.

For us this Christmas, I’m sure it is not how we planned, its not how we dreamed it to be.

Those moments that we usually say are the worst bits are the ones we might now cherish or even miss.

 
But in the story Jesus is now here, in the chaos, in the unprecedented, in the unplanned. I know that for Mary and Joseph they are doing this rough, its not easy, but there will have been a moment. It might have only been a moment, where time stood still and nothing else mattered to them. They had each other and they had their little baby that they called Jesus with them.

Another name given to Jesus is Emmanuel meaning God with Us. Think about that moment Mary, Joseph, Jesus – God with them. Time standing still before the baby starts crying, or the lack of sleep kicks in, or according to the story, shepherds and wise men burst in to say hello. Just their family, God now with them.

I think we can all relate to this idea of time standing still. You know where nothing else matters. Not the way we look or what we are wearing, where literally nothing else matters, just that moment, where time stood still.

What is it for you? Maybe when your sports team wins a trophy… or when you open the envelope for your results… or when you are around your family at Christmas….?

These are the moments that live with you forever and I think far too often we miss them. When I’ve been thinking about these moments I think there has to be a bit of magic in the air, I can’t really describe it better than that, something that you can’t touch or know, but you feel. I think that magic is often coupled by three things. Firstly being completely present, not thinking about anything else, it is just that moment in time that matters. Secondly being grateful for what you do have, like truly grateful understanding of the value that surrounds you. The home you live in, the opportunities you have and the people around you. Finally one which we seriously undervalue… being content. That peaceful satisfaction of where I am right now is good. That right now I don’t need the next thing, I’m not bothered I didn’t get the newest phone or best present ever. That you are happy with what you have and you are at peace with it. I think when we feel those three things together and there is that magic in the air then moments happen. Maybe that magic that is difficult to describe… maybe that is God.

For Mary and Joseph, they were present in the moment of the birth of their baby, they were grateful they had each other and they were content because they were all together. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with them. Then all of sudden time stands still for just a moment and the first Christmas arrives.
Emmanuel, God is with us, that is what is at the heart of this Christmas story is. That Jesus this little baby is far much more than just a child. That Jesus is God with us, on the earth,  that is why those moments where time stands still can happen.

This year Christmas is going to be different for us all. For some of us we received the worst Christmas present we could when we got told we can’t see our family and friends. Lets face it, its not going to be ideal for anyone this year. But then again it wasn’t for Mary and Joseph. But in the midst of it all may there be moments where we are truly present, whole grateful and finally content with what we have and then, may we recognise Emmanuel… Jesus, who is God with us, whom sprinkles something magic that creates a moment. A moment where time stands still and we can cherish forever even in the chaos of what has been 2020.

​I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.  
Chris Mason

It's episode 2 of Gold, Frankincense and Youthwork. This podcast we talk about whether we should be returning to church in the middle of this global pandemic.

Over lockdown Wayne from Holy Trinity Church came up with the idea that some of the local youth workers in Huddersfield get together and record a podcast together. This is that podcast, Gold, Frankincense and Youth Work.

We are all friends and I hope that comes across in this podcast.

I received a text message from my sister this week which told me about my young nephew who was playing with his toy phone. It said he was having this conversation "It's Uncle Chris. Hi Uncle Chris, I'm looking forward to giving you a big squeeze when the germs are gone. Hopefully it won't be too long now. I love you. Ok mate see you soon!"

Children for me always hold so much wisdom and can express it in a funny way. I wasn't on the other end of the phone but the sentiment that my nephew carried in this imaginary conversation is one I fully understand. I think we all do. 

I can't wait to give him a big squeeze, I can't wait to give all the people I love in my life a hug, especially my nieces and nephews. Speaking of which another nephew of ours was born just this week and I can't wait to get a cuddle with him too!

A hug is so much more than two people squishing their arms around each other, I can talk here about how mutual physical contact with another human genuinely changes your brain chemistry, releases endorphins and how it makes you feel. But I want to focus on what it says about both the people involved. A hug is still a good sign of someone’s relationship, the worst it can be is a person showing the other that they care, if it’s not this as a minimum, then it’s a rugby tackle or assault! A hug at its best is vulnerability, it quite literally involves you opening up your arms and letting the other person in, it shows that you do not feel threated and you feel comfortable together. At its best it shows security in your relationship with the other person.   

Feeling secure in your relationship with another person is phenomenally important in a human being’s lifetime. Having the people that you share your life with is equally important.

One thing that has certainly happened during this pandemic is make or break moments with our relationships with people. We know that for instance in China that divorce rates shot up after lockdown, but we also know that these times have brought people closer together.

Often I am so busy, some of the most important relationships, especially with family, are the ones that without me knowing I don't give as much time to. However, this has now changed, phone calls, zoom quizzes and text messages are all happening at a greater rate than they used to. The key to this is that they are all happening without cause. Actually a lot of the time there isn't even a lot to talk about, but they still take place. Other relationships are still happening with the frequency that you would expect. However, those no cause, no reason communications are such a positive at this time.

Do more of this with the people you love. We might not be able to hug people, but you can open yourself up, be vulnerable, be comfortable, have that arms open wide feeling of being secure in your relationships. That sometimes means just contact people because you care. 

Sometimes you have no idea what this means to the other person. The video below is of a little boy giving a hug and just see what difference this makes. Although we can't hug people right now you can still have that conversation with them!    
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In 2 Corinthians 13:12 it says to "Greet one another with a holy kiss"

In fact in the new testament it says this 5 times in total. Don't do this! Especially with a global pandemic currently happening!

Kissing someone is a fairly intimate thing to do. I don’t kiss people that I don't know! So maybe this doesn’t really apply to our context which is western society in 2020, but it did back when it was written. However, what is this really saying?

I think this is simply saying be vulnerable, arms out open wide, welcoming people. Sounds quite a lot like a hug to me. All that world needs the hugging feeling right now. How do we do this?

This verse is part of the passage below from 2 Corinthians 13.

Paul’s Final Greetings
Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

Greet each other with a sacred kiss. All of God’s people here send you their greetings.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

This is Paul's Final Greetings, but what if we as Christians made this our welcome. 

Being joyful (not happy clappy... joyful). Being mature in what we do and the way we treat others including the people that we don't always get along with, encouraging everyone around us to be the best version of themselves, which is ultimately who God created them to be. To live in harmony and peace, doesn't mean everyone agreeing! Martin Luther King Jr is quoted “True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” To do all of this with God of Love and Peace. 

That is when we can welcome properly. Those actions are a hug. Those actions embrace. We could even call those actions a holy kiss!

If we welcome everyone like that, then the last bit of what Paul says to the Corinthians makes sense. The Grace of Jesus Christ, the Love of God and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit all comes to the fore but none of it makes sense without the welcome.   
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We are obsessed with what is normal. This phrase the 'New Normal' I am hearing all the time. I am guilty of saying this too, however I think this to be a wholly unhelpful phrase. 

What is normal?

The dictionary says its "the usual, typical, or expected state or condition".

I have heard so many people say 'I just want to be normal!' or 'is it normal too?'. We have this obsession, that we don't like things when our situation or who I am is 'Not Normal'. But for you to know what is not normal we need to know what is normal!  

I'm sure this comes from a place where we don't want to stand out from the crowd because there is safety in being in the crowd. If our situation has changed we don't like it because we have to adapt and change ourselves. Then if we have to change is how I'm changing different to everyone else?

This idea of normal can be really unhelpful. In trying to be more 'normal' we start thinking about other people and how they deal with things rather than how we deal with things. 

Now in this current time where there is no idea of normal because everyone's lives have been turned upside down we start looking for a 'new normal'. What does that mean? Cause it looks different for me than it does for you! 

Stop comparing yourself to someone else - it will never bring you happiness. There will always be someone smarter, funnier, prettier, _______ (fill in the blank with something you feel insecure about) than you. 

So what about the world's new normal. Well studies show it takes somewhere between 3 weeks and 2 months to form a new habit. So in a world where we can no longer do some of the things we were used to...What are the new habits you have formed?

Actually the world we are living in is constantly changing, moving with every moment. Unfortunately I am old enough to remember when smartphones started to change the world, now we all live on ours. How about the World Wide Web, it is literally as old as me and I have seen it change and develop the way we live. The way life was in 2010 has changed to what it is in 2020. 

The point is that there was nothing 'normal' before lockdown and nothing 'normal' after it. There are things we do, and how we do them but its always up for change.

Instead of looking for a new normal, understand how you change. Understand how you can become the best version of yourself in that change. For instance, in a world where meeting up with people isn't possible how do you make time for people? Phone calls, zoom, social media or do you stop talking to them? Why? Is that a good thing or a bad thing. If its a bad thing change it! If you can't get out of bed until the afternoon and you feel rubbish during the day, wake up earlier! If you are struggling with your mental health, share it!   

All of it is possible! 

So what is the 'new normal', the new normal is same as the 'old normal', trying things, adapting to change and trying to be the best version of yourself you can be. All of that sound biblical to me, Keep reading to see what I mean.

This video is of Nick Vujicic's, he was born without arms or legs, he inspires people around the world that when things aren't 'normal' you don't just stop!
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Consistently in the bible we see the world changes for people. Joseph’s story is a great example of this, he goes from being the favourite son of many, to a slave. He then gets thrown in jail. It's only when he starts to use his talents, his life changes. He interprets dreams, make some decent decisions and slowly becomes powerful in Egypt. He then is finally reunited with his family.
 
Joseph's world changed in a matter of moments, from being comfortable to being a slave, just about when he got used to being a slave, he got put in prison. How he responds to that change is what defines his future. He could take everything that has happened out on the people that have caused it or what he does, continues to be himself in a more humble way and finally his family relationships are restored.
 
What was 'the normal' for Joseph? He had to change to his circumstances, he had to learn skills and change his character, more than he wouldn't have ever needed to if he continued to be the favourite son at home. However he is a better man at the end of it all. The constant for Joseph was God. Throughout it all, God never changed for him, whether he was the leader of Egypt or in the jail cell. God doesn't change, your view of him might but he never does.
 
Another Biblical Story where we see change is Paul. Paul starts his story in the bible by killing Christian's and ends up writing the majority of the New Testament.  Talk about change and being 'normal'. Paul's story is one of him changing not his situation changing. Paul's story is one where he encounters God, his eyes become open to what he is doing and then he changes his life accordingly. God spoke to Paul and Paul changed himself. God didn't sprinkle magic dust on him. Paul changed when his eyes became open to what he was doing. I wonder how your eyes during this time might have become open to what you are doing and if anything needs to change in your life.
 
Change is going to happen, it happens in our lives whether we want it or not, it happens within us, it happens around us. How we deal with it as human beings, as Christians, defines us. As our situation has changed dramatically so do we, how we see the world, what our behaviour is and continues to be. 'Normal' is not a word that I associate with Faith of any kind. Change is. And God is with you as you change!

This song is all about How God is with you no matter your situation. 

In this time, it is clearly easy to see the negatives about our current situation. Life is different, this is a new way of living, even if this is only in the short term. The negatives are easy list, I don't know what the top of your negatives list?

For me it’s not being able to embrace and see some of my family. The children in my life especially, nieces and nephews that are growing up so quickly and that we can't see in the way we would usually. Other things include not being able to run my youth groups in the same way I usually would, or not being able to play team sports etc. All negatives. We can look at these negatives often and quickly. What is more difficult to do is look at the positives of what is happening around us.

We are generally pulling together as society, some really lovely things we all see are happening. A great example of this is our Thursday Round of Applause for Our NHS. I had a really special moment this week, in the middle of doing our youth session online we stop to go out. As I did an ambulance showed up outside our house, they stopped so they could take photos of a rainbow you could vividly see on the horizon. So that meant when we went outside and clapped, we went and clapped for those paramedics outside, you could see how they appreciated it and it was nice to have that moment to thank some people that are really making a difference.

There are loads of moments like this. Capt. Tom Moore is another one, raising money for the NHS. The way people have responded... Amazing. People coming together to celebrate birthdays on a street (see video below), or the way our scientists are coming together to create a vaccine. Little things including shopping for the vulnerable or looking out for neighbours. All things which are so positive to see.

Other things include our environment; CO2 levels are down massively. I have seen a picture of people out on their walks, living miles away from London actually being able to see the City Centre. That wouldn’t usually happen. Traffic is down as much as 73% at one point. I know that level isn't sustainable but some of the reduction is!

The creativity people are using at this time, learning skills, doing things that they don't usually have time for. All of it is positive. 

Just remember that it’s not all negative, take positives whenever you can! Not just big things but little things too

Also in the negatives, this is having a massively positive effect on Church life. Obviously, we would love to be able to have Sunday Worship together or be able to have some of our meetings in person. However the way the church has and continues to responds to this is amazing.

There are so many examples of the church getting involved with work that is going on in the community, whether it be food banks, working together to help vulnerable in society including refugees in some places, linking the isolated to communities, it’s all currently taking place. 

There are lots of examples of faith growing during these times, according to Tearfund 1 in 20 adults have started to pray during the lockdown, despite not praying before. We know that lots of people that might be on the fringes of church have now got access to things because they can see it online and they dont have to walk into a building. 

What the church becomes during and after lockdown is still being shaped and will be for some time to come. It shouldn't and won’t go back to how it was before the pandemic. How will it change? The thing is that everyone gets to have a say in this, including young people. How do you want church to be different, how can the church serve you even when it can't physically meet? Any ideas then please contact us!

Times of isolation change us, like most things this is shown in the bible. Throughout the old testament you see prophets going through a time of isolation and them coming out different, changed but empowered to take the next phase of their life. The stories of Ezekiel, Noah, Jeremiah to name a few that all incorporate time on their own, not being able to attend gatherings, before continuing and moving onto a new phase of their lives doing amazing work in the process. 

We should and will continue to deal with the negative impacts of this time but how can it shape us? or even help us to become something different? something more. 

One of the best videos I have seen this last week is "The Blessing UK". This video which shows over 65 churches and movements, representing hundreds of others, who have come together online to sing a blessing over the UK. 'The Blessing', a song that came out of Elevation Worship, provides the background to the message that the church in the UK is very much alive even when our buildings are closed.
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Having spoken to people over the last few weeks it seems clear to me that the current pandemic and its effects are impacting many people.

Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are within six or fewer social connections between any person in the world. That you will know a person, that person will know a person and so on until you reach the end goal. At the start of all of this for a lot of people the first person we knew that has had Covid-19 would have been 2 or more steps away. However, for us all as more people’s lives are affected, it is getting closer to us. 

For some of us the effects will be on our doorsteps, a family member, a friend, someone that you see regularly at school or church. 

The impact that this has on us as individuals and on the people around us can be profound. If we are unsure about someone health or someone has sadly passed away in these times, what do we do when some of our usual ways of dealing with these emotions are limited to say the least. 

Each and every person goes through these times in their lives, everyone deals with them differently. Be aware of this, be ok with this. Sometimes it might not affect us for weeks, sometimes its instant. 

Here are a few tips I've found that might relate during this time

• Make time for your feelings - It's OK to feel things that might not seem appropriate. Anger is really common, feeling emotional when you are 'trying to be strong' for others, etc. Supressing everything, we are feeling isn't helpful, you are feeling something for a reason. Let yourself feel. 
• Be Kind to Yourself - What are you doing for yourself and your own mental health? Taking your time to go for a walk, letting yourself relax, reading a book and getting lost in another world. Do thing that are for you.
• Be Kind to Others - In these times where we are either living in close quarters with others or far apart from people we love, being kind to others is really key. If someone snaps then don't bite back, if you think someone is lonely speak to them, connect, be kind. 
• Take Positives - One of my big challenges to young people is find something positive at the end of every day. It might be the weather, some music, a conversation, whatever it is find something. Being able to see the lots of small positives in your life can often lead to finding more and doing more positive things.
• Allow Joy - Laughter effects your brain chemistry, there is a reason why laughing makes us feel good, it changes our brain chemistry, it releases more endorphins and dopamine that makes us feel good. But it also reduces the brain asking for cortisol which makes us feel stressed. Therefore, those moments where we laugh, on our own or with others is so important.
• Seek Support - If things are too much then seek support, there are so many places to talk, but as a first point of call, your local minister or I am obviously here to support. If you need more professional help seek out your GP. 
• Look Ahead - You have things to look forward too, at some point in the future you will be able to hug the people you love. You will be able to go to that place that makes you feel happy. You have life to live, look forward to how this situation is going to enable you to live with the good and bad that has come out of it. 

Our faith has a part to play in how we deal with these situations, often we feel such a range of emotions and these play into how we feel about our faith, God and Jesus. 

This can range from anger with God, to that all of it is rubbish, to leaning on and needing your faith to get through these times. All of this is normal. 

You are allowed to be Angry, You are allowed to not believe, You are allowed to lean on your understanding of God, you are allowed to do all of it.

If you believe in a God that created the world and created you, then God is big enough to deal with whatever you have got to give him. Jesus got angry, Jesus had the moment of separation of the Cross “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”, Jesus relied on God, Jesus did all of the emotions you will ever feel. He was human too.

No matter what I'd tell you to keep chasing what your faith means during this time, even when your angry, when you feel like God has abandoned you, be honest with God. The idea of lament is one seen throughout the bible, seen throughout the ages, don't be afraid to see where this leads you.

Studies show that people with a faith are more resilient to hardship. There is a reason for that. 

I like to give you something to reflect alongside, this is a song called Weep with Me by Rend Collective. 
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