Nine days ago, I posted my “Why has “Put Christ back into Christmas” suddenly become so contentious?” blog (see here) and two days ago the event organised by Tommy Robinson and his team took place, along with another competing “Christmas” event organised by those NOT in support.

As a blogger, with a modest following (but that’s ok) I see that post as being one of my more significant, given that I found myself opposing and being opposed by various Christian “big hitters”, touching on issues of enormous importance affecting the country I love, people who rightly feel disenfranchised by the church including its leaders dismissing their concerns and seeing the daunting prospect of a divided nation and one that is facing God’s judgment.

In order to not be overly long, I repeat the earlier promise that I don’t intend to rewind the old gramophone record by repeating facts and views I have already posted on and if anyone who reads this still wants to know more, I don’t wish to shy away from being taken to task if the task taker shows due respect. Challenges such as defining terms like “far right”, “racist”, “Islamophobic”, “xenophobic”, “fascist”, “nationalist” etc. and ideas like “Tommy Robinson is a badass”, “his event is/was a misleading political attempt at stirring up strife”, “Jesus was a refugee and welcoming refugees are the central themes behind the Christmas story” can all be argued over. I refer to my previous sentence for thoughts on these matters.  

Concerning the “Tommy Robinson event” (see here for the video footage of the full two hours), I would have loved to have attended, and taken in the “Billy Bragg” event while I was in central London, but given my disability that was not an option and, instead, I followed the proceedings on the YouTube livestream. I was pleased to find, as I had hoped and expected, that it was NOT a political event and more a traditional carol service with a charismatic, revivalist steer. It included the stuff one normally expects on these occasions, such as the Bible readings typically read at carol services along with well-known carols sung, that was led by the band up on the stage, along with a number of short sermons, prayers and testimonies. It was all very nice and indeed moving in a low-key way. Crowd singing was underwhelming though and I could think of several alternatives for those wanting rousing carols sung. Given the broad church representation on display, it was probably right not to push any, although I felt some holding back in order not to offend. Interestingly, there was an exhortation for people to attend a church, likely including those led by critics of TR and the event. The crowd was a lot less (estimates suggest 1000) than expected and the people seemed fairly ordinary and thankfully no bad behaviour that could have undermined the event. The only giveaway they were not your average sort of crowd was the number of flags.

I was interested in reading two articles written by people attending the event who earlier went on record as being unsupportive of what was being planned for the standard reasons of it creating a “them and us” paradigm etc., and because of their dislike of Tommy Robinson and his perceived agenda and likely buying into the lying vilification from mainstream media. One was titled: “The Polar(isation) Express: reflections on Tommy Robinson’s carol concert” by Jon Khurt (see here) and the other was titled: “Generosity and caution” by Helen Paynter (see here). Both attended the event and witnessed first hand what was going on. Yet despite their previous misgivings, e.g. over an anticipated political slant, they were relieved to discover that was not the case and were able to report positively on what went on, making several valid observations. I particularly agreed with the thought that while commending calling people to follow the Christ of Christmas, it needed to come with a call to repent. Their articles are worth a read.

Which brings me to the other Christmas event. Actually, there was more than one and the one I’m thinking off featured Billy Bragg, who up to a week ago I hadn’t even heard of. AI informs me: “Billy Bragg is a British singer-songwriter and left-wing activist, known for blending folk, punk, and protest music. Born on December 20, 1957, in Barking, London, he’s been a prominent voice for social change and progressive politics through his music”. He wrote/sung a song especially written for the event (see here), which ends with a dig at TR and his supporters (which received applause) …

If he were forced to choose a side

I tell you without doubt

That he’d embrace the refugee

And cast the fascist out

I have insufficient information about that event, which when it was advertised included the words “Don’t Let the Far Right Divide Us At Christmas”. It appears the event was put on as a protest at the Tommy Robinson event, with a message that was centred around the fact that Jesus was a refugee (at least for the first two years of his life) and we should be welcoming refugees REGARDLESS – and if we don’t we are fascists. There is a lot to be unpacked here. Besides taking issue with this perversion of the truth, I again refer people to my previous writings and my mini-sermon below. It struck me as ironic and hypocritical that those who criticised the Tommy Robinson event for being political were far more so with this event and, moreover, their politics is not compatible with what the Bible teaches. Gavin Ashenden argues the point more eloquently than I could in his “Did Jesus the Refugee pay people-smugglers? Choosing a narrative: Tommy Robinson or Rowan Williams?” video (see here). [Edit 16/12/25: because of certain comments received, I realise the title of the video is an unfortunate, misleading one and is why you need to check out the video rather than get hung up over the title. It referred to yet another anti TR Christmas event taking place, picking up on illegal cross channel migration amongst other things.]

I had two interesting conversations yesterday at my church, with two people following the service. While my church is theologically conservative, it is non-political, and includes in its activities those that help the homeless. One person, a mild-mannered gentleman, attended the Tommy Robinson event, confirming many of the details given above. He also attended the Stop Digital IDs protest that took place nearby and was able to flip between the two events. He also told me that in the previous week he attended a protest in London against plans to build a new Chinese embassy near the Tower of London. Like my friend, I would have supported both protests although, in this season of protesting, I would not be supporting climate change or pro-Palestine demos. Interestingly, in my own city, Southend, there was a protest against closing the campus in the City belonging to Essex University, I also support.

My second conversation was with the preacher, whose message, interestingly given how I want to end this article, was about the righteousness of God and the need to live righteous lives. We got onto Saturday’s TR event, without getting too deep, reflecting on how the Lord uses unlikely people (who may not get everything right) to draw other unlikely people to Himself. The need for us is to not thwart God’s plans but rather be available for Him to use in order to help disciple new Christians as a result of the quiet revival taking place, which like past revivals cannot be man orchestrated. As for revival, this is a world wide phenomime including places where Christians are persecuted. It is happening and should gladden us.

While, commendably, the TR event organisers went out of their way to be non-political, I would argue you cannot keep politics out of preaching altogether and cite as my example the Hebrew prophets who spoke out against the evils of their day, although given the sensitivities involved wisdom is needed (in my case a lot of what I share in my blogs, I don’t bring up in church). This brings me to what I might have said if given the opportunity to give a word, bearing in mind the paradigm in which the event was set. I might have begun by reminding folk we are in the Advent season when many churches reflect on the message of hope, love, joy and peace ahead of Christ’s first appearing at Christmas. But in the early church the focus was on being prepared for Christ’s coming again when He establishes His righteous Kingdom and the message included sin, death, heaven and hell and being ready by living righteous lives. The Bible tells us that righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach. As a nation we have incurred God’s holy anger and it needs to return to Him. It starts with you and I. The Christmas message is the Gospel message and it begins with the righteousness of God. It is also a wonderful message of how God’s Son, Jesus, came from the highest place in heaven to the lowest on earth, when He died on the cross for our sins. But he rose from the dead, returned to heaven and one day will return to earth when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Jesus is Lord. He offers you forgiveness of sins, a life that is worth living and eternal life. You can experience His salvation if you repent of your sin and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! I call on you to do so this Christmas time and receive God’s most wonderful free gift. God bless each and everyone and a merry Christmas to all and sundry.