Paxmas means 'sending peace'.
Please join in celebrating the last week of each year,
To reflect on what we have done well, and what we could do better,
To acknowledge the value of families, companions, associates and communities,
To try to plant even a tiny seed of peace, and hope that it grows.
Paxmas: a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, end of year celebration.
Paxmas is not intended to negate, or to replace Christmas, or any other celebration.
It is meant to enrich all such celebrations, of any culture or religion, that honour and celebrate family and community and a wish for peace.
Paxmas can be celebrated in addition to Christmas, or on its own, as a universal celebration - wishing to include and acknowledge all loving family based cultures and religions - as a special time of rejoicing in what we have, valuing our family, friends and companions, and contemplating how we can make the following year a better one for all.
Though PEACE may be a big wish - it starts with us all.
Peace is an ideal that we can never fully live up to - but we can aim for it.
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Any celebration of family and community is, in essence, a celebration of birth.
As the birth of Christ marks the beginning of the Christian family, any birth marks the beginning of a new family, and continuity of community.
Any mission for peace must include a broadening of our sense of community,
Including and joining people in celebrations, not excluding.
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Our own family celebrations will include the motif of birth, as the beginning of the continuum of birth, family, community; and the motif of a tree, or growing things, as a symbol of planting a seed of peace, and hopefully watching it grow.
But choose your own symbols and traditions; the only criteria is to honour, value, celebrate and cherish family, community and the wish for peace.
Best Wishes.
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