Wishing you a blessed and peaceful Christmas
Ross Greer MSP’s 2025 Co-Leader Christmas Message:
For many of us the festive season is an opportunity to slow down, reflect on our year and connect with our loved ones. That isn’t the case for everyone though, so the Scottish Greens want to thank the emergency services, carers and everyone else whose work keeping our communities safe and supported doesn’t stop over Christmas and New Year.
As a Christian, I’m looking forward to spending time with my church community and my family. We’ll continue reflecting on the theme of our congregation’s nativity service this year, “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.”
That verse, from the Gospel of Matthew, was strikingly relevant here in Scotland in 2025 and I’m sure it will be the same in 2026.
The principle of welcoming, whether it be the stranger, the foreigner, the friend yet to be made, is the most often repeated throughout the Bible. It is at the core of my personal faith and of my work as an MSP.
The nativity was a story of ordinary people in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Between carols at our nativity service this past Sunday, our congregation talked about the experience of Mary and Joseph as strangers in Bethlehem, and then their escape to Egypt as refugees with the baby Jesus.
Scotland has a proud record of welcoming the stranger, but this year that value has come under vicious attack. I am proud that across the length and breadth of our country people have stood firm against those attacks, including by rallying in defence of refugees who have sought sanctuary here.
We cannot allow the forces of hatred and fear to divide us. Every one of us can be the light against the darkness.
It is important that we remember that and offer our support to those who need a helping hand at this time of year.
The world can be a challenging place, but it can also be full of beautiful experiences particularly when we have a supportive community around us.
On behalf of all the Scottish Greens, I wish you all a blessed and peaceful Christmas. I hope that you find time to share that peace with your loved ones, with neighbours and with the strangers who are friends you’ve yet to make.