Rev Derek Walmsley Vicar, St Mark’s Utley writes

Silly, Inaccurate and Embarrassing?”

The Bishop of Croydon caused a stir in the press last week by saying that some Christmas carols are “silly, inaccurate and embarrassing.”

He has ruffled some feathers with this one, of course.

Critics have said that it is the Bishop who is “silly, inaccurate and embarrassing” and he’s behaving like Scrooge in telling us that Christmas is not what we would like it to be.

Now, I’ve met the Bishop and he is a sensible, sane and personable man. I think he simply wanted to provoke us into thinking about what we sing. Singing Christmas Carols is “nice” and cosy but what are we singing about?

We need to consider the words we sing, questioning the sentimental stuff but also recognising the great truth that we are celebrating. Only a few lines of some carols are of dubious value.

So, if you want to join us, Keighley churches are singing carols outside the bus station on Saturday, between 10am and 11.30am. People from my own church will be singing carols in The Roebuck pub, on Skipton Road, the night before, at 8pm. You will be very welcome to come and to think about the words we sing.