For me my highlights have included fear of family illness, frustration, liberation and reconciliation.

Personal reflection should also consider the world around us, our place in that world and the underlying messages given out at this time of the year.

On Christmas Eve I was working in the kitchen, listening to some children recreating the nativity scene on Radio 4. After the 3 wise men had arrived and presented their gifts, the narrators told the audience that the child Jesus and his family returned to Nazareth! There is some debate between the competing gospels about whether this is correct, but if you follow the Gospel of Matthew at Chapter 2: Verse 13, it advises the reader that: 

“Now when they had departed (the three wise men), behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him”. 

So it would appear that this Family were forced to leave their homeland and become refugees because of a threat to their personal security. They fled to a land not unused to an influx of refugees and what is now modern day Cairo and its surrounds, formed the centre of intellectual and religious thinking during the time of this apparent Flight to Egypt.

In recent weeks we have been hearing how it is not permissible to even utter the word Christmas and how this was affecting our culture: bunkum! Like many millions of Brits, I have taken that journey through shops, shopping centres and online emporiums and as I loaded myself up with bags of goodies, I could not help but notice all the Christmas decorations, windows festooned with seasonality, images of nativity and the traditional British of Christmas sounds from the Salvation Army. My own neighbours, of different nationalities and religions were also preparing to celebrate the holiday of Christmas, without its religious connections, but celebrate they did - what on earth are these politicians and pundits on about?

Apart from my own personal reflection, my own Christmas experience saw different aspects that the Christmas Cantata conveniently masks; the experience of desperation and lost dreams.

One evening I drove into our local supermarket car park and at its entrance was a young man, probably in his late twenties. He was sat at the opening to the car park with a collection of blankets and coats and a small dog. He was dressed in many layers against the chill winds no doubt hiding a less than healthy body. The attitude of those driving by was no less than hostile as they drove by with their cars comfortably packed with Christmas fare. I confess that I was enraged to not just see this behaviour but to see a fellow human, reduced to this level of living. The sceptics reading this may reflect the attitudes of people who suppress that small tear in the corner of the eye when they hear the back story of the contestants to some TV talent show and may also support the actions of some of the people who just drove on by, without any regard to this young man’s back story or condition. Impulsively, I purchased several sandwiches, a drink and some food for his dog. When I came out of the supermarket I drove down to where he was sitting and parked to one side. I approached this young man and offered this meagre meal and could see that he was generally clean, polite and very grateful. I offered him some kind words with the wish that his 2017 would prove to be better than this one. Before I had even stepped away, he ripped open the first pack of sandwiches and had started to devour them, by the time I reached my car, some 50 metres away, he was already opening the second pack; such was the ferocity of his hunger, I did wonder if he might gnaw at his fingers. As I drove off, he cheerily waved to me clearly grateful for this ‘gift’. I was so incensed by this young man’s experience that I told others and for several days he remained on this spot and I know that others also offered him food and drink; he is no longer there, no doubt moved on as a result of some offence to some seasonal sensibility.

My second experience came with a visit to a care home on Christmas morning. We were there to visit my Mother-in-Law who sadly has vascular dementia. I have written before about the ravages of this disgusting disease, but Christmas is the time to see its full effects. Whilst Dementia offers little in the way of hope, there is also much joy and humour coupled with sadness. For sufferers of Dementia, Christmas Day is a day that is no different to any other day, but it is punctuated by Father Christmas, the giving of gifts and a home full of decorations. It was moving to witness the wonderful care and compassion offered by the ‘economic refugees’ from Eastern Europe; beautiful people, so far from home, unable to return for several years, but still acting with humanity within a culture that is alien to them. I subsequently found that for many of these carers, their Christmas was bounded with fear and unhappiness; fear for the future - fear for their status. Cries of anguish peppered Christmas morning; a frustration of mind and body that no longer holds any recognition or temporal anchor. Some shouted out repeatedly that they want to die; others just about recognising the season that is Christmas and displaying perhaps some frustration or anger. Throughout the normal operations of the home, the morning and afternoon was filled by the singing of Christmas Carols, laughter, relatives helping to open their loved one’s Christmas presents, whilst some just sat alone lost in a world of their own. Relatives were glancing and smiling at their fellow-relatives offering quiet courage, a kindly word, a heart that is breaking.

These two experiences alone demonstrated to me how we, who rely on others to protect and defend the weak, have been failed abysmally by a politically opportunistic system.

Whilst my own Christmas was filled with cheer and sheer delight, my own thoughts drifted into the year’s experiences and in particular the Christmas experiences. Humanity it seems has become lost in a sea of convenience and advantage, never recognising the refugees in our midst; the refugees from a lack of medical progress or care to the refugees from family strife. Refugees from a failure of a political system to a failure of diplomacy. Refugees from a lack of hope to a lack of equality.

As we advance this Christmas season to the Feast of the Epiphany and whether you choose to believe or heed the words of the Bible or rely on some other scriptural or humanist text, think on about the Refugees of this Christmas family. This is a family who found themselves in an extraordinary personal and family situation, seeking safety in a strange land, with a child who at the very least would have been classed as ‘gifted’, dutifully reacting to ‘sage’ words of advice. Can you feel their frustration, can you imagine their fear; why then can we not feel the same emotions about our modern day refugees in the season of goodwill and beyond?

Copyright, All Rights Reserved - Frank Brehany - 2016 (First Published on 30/12/16)