with whom He is pleased"

So runs the great Christmas refrain. Can we make it happen? When Christmas pre-empts Advent and shops try to seduce you with Christmassy music, following the post Hallow'een excitement, you begin to wonder whether anyone takes any notice of any Christian value or teaching. Shops are there to sell - and if you're conned into overspend you can only blame yourself. Tricks of the trade involve smell, suitable sound and easy credit. Until such time as the purveyors of such profanity are convinced Christians, there will always be that tension. Thus, as Christians, we need to be an active church that makes a greater impact on people's lives

Already on the Continent there is a groundswell against Islam as its fundamentalism begins to undermine, say, the French way of life and their culture. In the case of France, the stoning of a 23-year-old woman has caused outrage against the Muslim community. But here in Britain such a groundswell against the extremism of other faiths would only carry weight if such opponents were better versed in our own faith and its ways - to say nothing of the tolerance it should promote. This begs the question: what is ministry? Because to have greater tolerance - and also greater responsibility towards other minorities - we, as the Church, must be prepared to encourage others to understand their own faith and share dialogue with them.

"Ministry is a public activity of a baptised follower of Jesus Christ, flowing from the Spirit's charism* and individual personality on behalf of a Christian community, to witness to, to serve and to realise the Kingdom of God" (Fr Thomas O'Meara). We are all capable of participation in some way or another in this ministry. It becomes a short step to the ministry, and therefore priesthood, of all believers in 1 Peter. Ministry is the whole activity of the Church, laity and the 3 ordained orders, based on a common diaconate through charism. Ordination itself is 3 fold in 3 directions: the 3 orders are within the diaconate, i.e. to be priested or consecrated bishop one still remains part of the diaconate. Secondly the duties are to preach: administer the sacraments: pastoral care. All this within a 3rd dimension which especially includes the laity of prayer, worship and encouraging others. The 7 deacons in Acts 2, including Stephen whose feast day is often overlooked at Christmastide, were preachers of the Word. As disciples we are those who study and apply the ways of our Lord and His Word. In other words, we take Christ on board, at Christmas, at Communion and through the study of the Word so the Word is made flesh and dwells among us. We act on behalf of Christ to encourage others. May we spread tolerance and goodwill in this new year and beyond ……… *God's gift of grace

THE BOOKSculpture,Prayer and Scripture... ISBN 1-85174-578-5. Published by Grove (Spirituality) Booklets. S91. It's ready!

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