BRIDGE BUILDERS
PAST EVENTS

The Real Meaning of Christmas

The first in our “Real Meaning” celebrations, The Real Meaning of Christmas was held before a multi-ethnic audience at St Barnabas Anglican Church, Manor Park, as guest of the vicar, the Rev James Ramsay.

After Easter, Christmas is the most important festival in the Christian calendar.  December 25th marks the birth of Jesus Christ.  With film clips and narration from the gospels of St Matthew and St Luke, the story of the Nativity told of Christ’s birth in Bethleham and the visit of the Magi, the three wise men from the east, who came to pay homage to the Son of God, the infant Jesus.

Contributors included the girls of St Angela’s Ursuline School and the boys of St Bonaventure’s School, Forest Gate;

Iman Momhammad Sadiq Qureshi, of the Minjaj-ul-Quar’an Mosque, Forest Gate, the first iman to speak in a Christian church in Newham;

and astronomer Dr John Mason, of the South Downs Planetarium, Chichester, who shed some scientific light on the true date of Christ’s birth which could have been as early as 6 or 7BC!

A question-and-answer session, chaired by Olive Cooper, quizzed a panel of clergy:

The Rev Dr Jane Freeman, of St Bartholomew’s Church, East Ham;

Father Denis Hall, of St Antony’s Catholic Church, Forest Gates;

The Rev Bruce Stokes, of Woodgate Baptist Church, Forest Gate.