Thank you, Mike, for a well written piece about what the meaning of Christmas is to many people, and I note what a stark contrast your words are to those of your parliamentary successor!

Over the weekend, I saw a Social Media post of hers where she asserted assert that there is a “very real prospect of Christmas being ‘cancelled’ by the woke liberati.”

This post of hers infuriated me, but there was little point in engaging with her post (as others did), as all I would have been rewarded with would have been a torrent of ‘un-Christian’ abuse from her sycophantic followers (as others did); and, doubtless, her fan-base would not see the irony in their words in their abusive defence of their populist-champion.

But, however, I did feel that writing an email to her, and gently pointing out the juxtaposition, within her post, of the suggestion that wokeness could end up cancelling Christmas and the reality that Jesus was indeed Himself ‘woke’, should be undertaken; I took the decision to email her despite the fact that, as she has yet to respond to any of my previous 14 emails to her, this email was not likely to receive a response; at least I would know that I had demonstrated to her how wrong the populist-rhetoric from her Social Media post was.

And as I pointed out to her in my email, from what I see on Social Media, one of the main (and growing) threats to the Christian faith is actually when the public start to actively oppose the true message of God directly because of high-profile “Christians” (people or entities) acting in a very un-Christian way.

As I see it, people generally understand the ‘broad’ concept and traits of Christianity as showing compassion and love towards your fellow human/neighbour, when a person or entity who claim to be Christian, act in an uncaring or hateful way towards others, then their ‘testimony’ (or actions) will be judged by the public in line with what they see as these ‘broad’ concepts and traits of Christianity – and this is where the people can be driven to actively oppose the Christian faith, as they may well (and rightly) see the hypocrisy that might be being displayed by the high-profile people or entities who are claiming to be Christian – and, therefore, actually endangering our Christian faith.

The likes of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon/Tommy Robinson (who seems to be on a crusade, disguised as putting ‘Christ back into Christmas’) or Donald Trump (who claims to be a Christian, but acts completely to the contrary to what should be expected of a high-profile Christian) only serve to galvanise the publics’ active opposition to the true message of God – I see this daily on Social Media posts. And so it’s the likes of these people (and my current MP) who will drive people away from salvation!

I also pointed out to her that as the English definition of ‘woke’ is in fact ‘aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality’, it is very clear that the message from both the Bible and Jesus is in fact one of ‘wokeness’. I listed a few examples (which I have also put below for your reference), from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, in order to demonstrate to her that God actually wants us to address the social and racial inequality that we come across in our lives.

So, thank you for your article, Mike. It was a well-balanced, and thoughtful piece of writing; and I doubt that any unbiased observer could not fail to note the contrast between your caring/thoughtful words and the divisive words of your parliamentary successor! We are all human, and all make many mistakes in our lives, and which is exactly the reason that Jesus was sent into the world over 2000 years ago, but it’s the humble and contrite in heart that God seeks out to bring them back to him.

I hope that you have a blessed Christmas, Mike!

Here’s those biblical examples of the ‘wokeness’ of God that I sent to my MP:

Exodus 22:21-23:

21 You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. 23 If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry;

Leviticus 19:33-34:

33 “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Jeremiah 22:3:

3 This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Micah 6:8:

8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Zechariah 7:9:

9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.

Matthew 25:31-46:

31 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37 Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40 And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family [a], you did it to me.” 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” 44 Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” 45 Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

[a] Matthew 25:40, Greek, ‘these my brothers’

Luke 4:18:

18  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

John 4:4-10:

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. [a]) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

[a] Or do not use dishes Samaritans have used

Acts 2:45:

45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.