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From the Reverend Kate Bottley:Ìý
The New Year begins for me with it’s own rituals. The tree comes down on twelfth night, the little wise men figures, who’ve been travelling round the kitchen for weeks, finally arrive at the nativity stable and with candle light and as much ceremony as we can muster, our house is blessed for year ahead. There’s another tradition that goes along with these though and that’s the post Christmas Bottley chocolate audit. Over the past month or so we’ve feasted on delicious delights but now the chocolate tin is depleted.Ìý
There are a few left but they’re the ones we don’t really like, we’re fans of a toffee penny but ambivalent about strawberry cremes, and nobody likes the coffee ones. If decisive action isn’t taken, the unwanted confectionary might well be hanging round ‘til March when the Easter eggs show up. And nobody wants that. Now, in normal year I’d pop round to my friend’s house and we’d organise a swap. She loves the ones we hate and vice versa, but with one thing and another that’s not going to be possible.Ìý
When Christianity was just starting out many people lived in community with one another giving what they could and sharing what they had and pooling resources. Some still do, partly out of necessity, for when times are hard, but also because a key part of what makes us thrive as humans is to foster connection with others, loving our neighbour in deed as well as word, and a brilliant way to do this is by sharing. My Granny used to say ‘It takes all sorts to make a world, it wouldn’t do for us all to be the same.’ And that is true, one woman’s hazelnut in caramel is another woman’s coconut éclair, but there are some things that unite us, the need to love and be loved and the joy that comes with sharing and connecting with others, despite our different tastes.Ìý
But that’s not the only thing that unites us though, is it Nicky, right?Ìý Because when all is said and done, I think we can all agree that the little green triangle chocolate the best one, yes?