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Good morning.

Never do I feel more like the proverbial camel trying to squash myself through the eye of a needle than at Christmas time. As I write my shopping lists which include everything from prosecco, smoked salmon and a turkey which weighs more than my son, I think about the Christmas cards I鈥檝e sent, emblazoned with the good causes I support. This year, a palliative care charity.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, had his charity donation to The Children鈥檚 Society publicly rejected. They said to accept it 鈥渨ould not be consistent with the principles and values that underpin our work.鈥� A stance which has meant a lot to survivors of church abuse but which opens up all sorts of questions about the nature of charitable giving.

Giving at Christmas is a moral choice that many of us make, whether we have a faith or not. If every donor was interrogated to assess their character, I wonder how many would pass muster? As we burn a hole in our credit cards, we鈥檙e reminded by poignant advertising all around us of how our money could be better employed. For Christians, giving to those in need, also known as almsgiving, is one of the central tenets of our faith. We鈥檙e called to respond to human need, knowing that nothing we do can earn the love of God. Giving is never about buying forgiveness or appearing righteous, which is probably why Jesus said it must be done in secret.

Unseen acts of charity are happening everywhere at this time of year. In churches, clergy who are far removed from power, stoically serve in their faithful and determined outposts, stubbornly tending to their communities despite the atrocious headlines, with care and devotion. This Christmas, these churches will feed the homeless and the poor, and sit beside the elderly and the lonely. They will give out toys and gifts to children鈥檚 homes and shelters. They will deliver bags of produce to food banks, and by every act of loving care, mostly unseen by the wider world, these holy havens will be a beacon for the broken in their towns and villages.

This work is only possible because people, saints and sinners and everyone in between, give generously. They do it because they believe in one simple but radical truth: that the one who created the heavens and who proclaimed good news to the poor was born in Bethlehem and lives on still. They don鈥檛 give because they鈥檙e morally rich, they give because they know at heart, we are all, in some way, morally poor. At Christmastime, we are all invited to give and give generously, no matter who we are, and I for one am thankful for that.

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