…if you want to see an example of true patience watch a cat waiting patiently for the mouse it knows is there to crawl to the optimum position for its capture.
The cat will wait for hours, eyes on the prize, as still as a statue until the mouse has come right up to it … and then he pounces. But the point isn’t the pounce it’s the waiting. The cat has to wait in the right way to achieve its goal – patiently preparing. It can not and does not allow itself to get distracted by things around it or it will lose out.
In a couple of weeks we, once again, reach the time of Lent. A time of patient preparation leading up to the resurrection of Jesus and the Salvation of the world.
Many will proudly claim they are giving up wine or chocolate or Facebook or cake for Lent and some will equally proudly share when they give into the temptation and indulge anyway.
The giving up of something for Lent is representative of fasting. Despite some of the more recent modern fads this is not a new-fangled dieting technique but a tool to prepare both the physical and the spiritual body to gain discipline, seek God and deepen prayer.
It is often used before undertaking specific significant tasks. After Jesus’s baptism, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the Wilderness to fast and prepare for His ministry. Here He resisted the devil and the temptations laid before Him and strengthened Himself to be ready for what lay ahead. We remember Jesus’s time in the Wilderness during Lent but are we taking the opportunity of the Lenten time of preparation to patiently prepare spiritually, seek God and deepen prayer?
Are we using the time like the cat waiting for our mouse or are we letting ourselves get too distracted by worldly things around us?
Do we even know what our mouse is? What the task God has for us is? Let’s use this Lent to find out!
Cat waiting patiently. (Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com)
The 25th January is the day in the church calendar when we remember the conversion of Saul into Paul. However, first I would like to share a story with you called The Making of a Saint.
Johnny was out shopping with his mother one morning in the high street. Feeling a bit bored, he happened to look up at the windows of the nearby cathedral. He wasn’t very impressed. From the outside, they looked drab and dull and a bit grimy. He said as much to his mother when she came out of the supermarket.
‘Just let’s go inside,’ she said to him. So they went into the cathedral, and his mother took him to where the big stained – glass windows were.
At first, Johnny was entranced by the magical coloured patterns on the stone floor of the ancient church. They seemed to dance in front of him as the morning light streamed through the mighty windows.
‘Look at that,’ he pointed to the dancing image on the stone floor. ‘What is it, Mum?’
‘Well,’ his mother replied, ‘actually, that’s a saint. See the window up there, which looked so dull from the outside? There is a saint up there in the stained – glass, and the light is shining through her and making her picture dance for us here on the stone floor.’
Johnny stored up this information in his heart, and the two of them went home for dinner. A few days later, Johnny’s class was having a religious instruction lesson. The teacher was talking about saints. ‘What do you think makes a saint?’ he asked the class.
Johnny’s hand shot up. ‘A saint is someone the sun shines through,’ he explained, ‘and when that happens, the stones come to life.’
Let’s not beat about the bush here. Paul’s conversion story on the road to Damascus is one which is still widely known and well documented. Saul the Jew and Pharisee held the Temple and the Law as precious. Saul witnesses the speech of Stephen. He looks after the coats of the witnesses as they kill Stephen, making Stephen the first Martyr. He heard Stephen’s last words: “Lord, set not this sin to their charge.”
Saul persecuted Followers of The Way (or to use the name of today Christians). He sought them out with this aim and so, having got the relevant papers from the Sanhedrin, he walked the 140 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus. Although officers of the Sanhedrin went with him, being a Pharisee, Saul could not have anything to do with them and so walked alone with his thoughts. The journey took them through Galilee which may well have made Saul think of Jesus. In addition, it is likely that Saul’s thoughts also included the calm way Stephen accepted his death and his last words. Before they reach Damascus the road climbs Mount Hermon with the city of Damascus laying in the plain below.
That region had a characteristic phenomenon of electrical storms being created by the hot air of the plains hitting the cold air of the mountain. As Saul reached this point there was just such an electrical storm and, out of the storm came Jesus Christ saying “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Saul asked who was speaking to him and the reply was, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting but rise, go into the city and you will be told what to do.” Saul got up but could no longer see and had to be led into the city of Damascus. He could not see and did not eat or drink for 3 days.
The conflict between Saul and Jesus’s followers was at an end. Saul surrendered completely to Jesus. Up until this moment Saul had been doing what he wanted to do. But from the moment Jesus told him “Go into the city and you will be told what to do”, Saul would be told what to do. A Christian is someone who has ceased to do what they want and who has begun to do what Jesus wants.
Saul enters Damascus and Ananias enters the scene. Ananias received a message from God that he was to help Saul and would find him on the street called Straight. Ananias knew who Saul was and would have been apprehensive about this task, but he did what God told him to do.
Some say that the prayer of Stephen was a key element of Paul’s conversion and so is the brotherliness demonstrated by Ananias. As soon as Ananias sees Saul he greets him as “Brother Saul” in a perfect example of Christian love. In Christ, Saul and Ananias, people who had been on opposite sides, came together as brothers. Once Saul’s sight was restored to him he was baptised, took food and recovered his strength. Saul became Paul, a brand new person in Christ.
Paul immediately began witnessing in Damascus in an act of great courage. Paul was saying “I am a changed man and I am determined that those who know me best should know it. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” He then went to Arabia. Paul had experienced a shattering change and went to be alone with God for guidance and strength for the new and very different life that now lay ahead of him.
Paul underwent true conversion. True conversion to the Spirit of Christ, is a deeply spiritual and deeply necessary phenomenon. It is a conversion to grace, and a transformation to truth, and those things can cost a lot. And true conversion is always, always, a conversion to the future, not to the past.
True conversion is not being converted backwards, into some worldview that simply repeats the errors of history. It is being converted forwards, into the future, into an entirely new way of seeing the world. Many of us today need to be converted to something new! To a vision of true unity, for instance, where there is neither male nor female, neither Gentile nor Jew, neither Muslim nor Christian, neither black nor white.
Faith is not static! Conversion is implicit and necessary in the ongoing life of Christians; once we are converted we have to be converted over and over again. To model grace to the world, we also need to model how to be converted – how to change, gracefully, over and over again.
As Paul says in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Light Storm (Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com)
Recently, I happened to hear someone teaching on the Baptism of Jesus. The question was asked “Why are people baptised?” And the answer given was “ To become a Christian”.
So I ask you, why then was Jesus baptised?
You, like me, can probably see the flaw in the answer previously referred to – there’s a few to spot.
The term Christian was first used around 44AD in the city of Antioch, as recorded in Acts 11:26 which says “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch”, to describe followers of Jesus. Earlier followers called themselves “The Way” and the term Christian was not more widely adopted until later. It became a more standard term around 100AD when the word “christianity” was first recorded.
So Jesus did not get baptised to become a Christian – a word that was not even in existence at that time.
Neither did He need to be baptised to follow Himself -especially as Facebook didn’t exist then either.
Likewise, Jesus didn’t need to be baptised to believe in Jesus. He knew He was and is the Son of God.
When a baby is baptised the parents have made the decision and make the declarations on behalf of the baby (or young child). If, like Jesus, someone is getting baptised as an adult then they have found their faith, believe in Christ and, as a believer of Christ, are already a Christian.
People are baptised as a public declaration of their faith, symbolising the person’s identification with Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, and a commitment to a new life in Christ. It serves as an outward sign of an inward change, a public testimony of one’s belief and a way to formally join a Christian community.
But, at the time of Jesus’s baptism, He hadn’t been crucified, dead, buried and resurrected yet.
So why did Jesus get baptised?
His cousin John, who was already known as John the Baptist, was calling people to be baptised and was baptising them. Yet Jesus was still alive, had not yet met His death and had not yet started His ministry. So why did the crowds flock to John in such great numbers and why did they and Jesus get baptised?
John’s mission was to prepare the way for the Messiah. He was calling the people to repentance for the forgiveness of sins and his baptism was a symbolic cleansing – a public declaration of turning away from sin and having a new start. It was also an act to make way for Jesus, who would baptise with the Holy Spirit, and served as a way to demonstrate a commitment to God’s law.
It was about spiritual readiness; John was urging the people to change their ways so they wouldn’t reject the Lord when He came.
Jesus was baptised to fulfil all righteousness, publicly launch His ministry as God’s Son, identify with all humanity (including sinners), and inaugurated a new covenant. All this was confirmed by the descent of the Holy Spirit and by the Voice of God.
Jesus’s baptism symbolised His union with sinners, foreshadowed His death and resurrection and established a model for the baptism we have today.
By getting baptised by John, Jesus was signifying His obedience to God’s will and His immersion into humanity’s condition. It was a public act marking the start of His ministry and mission as the Messiah, validated by the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. By being baptised by John Jesus identified with sinful humanity, taking humanity’s burden upon Himself.
The water symbolised death and burial and the chance of a new life (or a new start). It points to Jesus’s ultimate “baptism” on the cross – His death and resurrection.
Jesus’s action set an example to His followers, showing the path to God and infusing the sacrament of baptism with God’s grace for us and for future believers.
Finally, when Jesus was baptised the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and God’s voice declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” – the indisputable confirmation of Jesus’s divine identity and mission.
“You’re disobedient. Genesis says only men can lead the flock and women shouldn’t lead, preach or teach” I was told by a congregant this week.
Seriously! (shocked cat)
Firstly, I would like to just state that following God’s call and doing His will is not disobedient. The opposite in fact is true. However, ignoring His call, not listening and deliberately ignoring a vocation is indeed disobedient.
Genesis does not, in fact, explicitly state that a woman cannot hold a leadership role, minster, preach or teach. In actuality, NO WHERE in the Old Testament does it explicitly forbid a woman to hold these roles.
What often happens is that less accurate translations of Genesis 2:18 and Genesis 3:16 are misquoted and taken out of context.
Genesis 2:18 – And the Lord God said “It is not good for the human being to be along; let us make him a helper just like him.”
Genesis 3:16 – And to the woman he said “I shall greatly multiply your griefs and your groaning; in pain you will bring forth children, and your inclination shall be for him. And he will lord it over you”
Nicholas King Translation
So it was not good for the human being to be alone and a helper just like him was created. Equal. A companion. Sharing the load, living and working together as equals. And to “lord it over you” meaning false authority, displaying an inflated sense of self importance, condescending and intimidating instead of genuine leadership and humble service. This does not grant man power over woman. It does not say that women cannot be ministers, preach, lead, or teach. It just says that man will think he has power and importance that he does not actually have.
Indeed there are many examples in the Old Testament where God called and used women to lead, preach and teach. Whilst the Old Testament is patriarchal it also shows that God used women in ways which defied the cultural norms. These women had direct access to God and communicated directly with God. They did not need a man to be a go-between.
Examples of such women from the Old Testament are:
Deborah (Judges 4-5)
Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Esther (Esther)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Athallah (2 Chronicles 22:10-12)
Abigail (1 Samuel 25)
The Wise Woman of Abel (2 Samuel 20:15-22)
King Lemuel’s mother (Proverbs 31:1)
Moving on to the New Testament, again there are two small misinterpreted sections in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14: 34-35) and Timothy (1 Timothy 2:12). The rest of the New Testament does not, in fact, explicitly state that a woman cannot hold a leadership role, minster, preach or teach; on the contrary the examples in the New Testament actively promotes women taking on these roles.
To address the aforementioned verses from Paul’s epistles it must be remembered that we only have one half of the conversation, that Paul’s letters were addressing particular situations and that they are heavily weighted by the male dominant culture of the time. Paul was not addressing all women in ministry. He was instead addressing those in the congregation who were out of order, who were gossiping instead of worshipping, speaking out of turn and who were not displaying modesty and restraint in a reverent way.
This is evidenced in the fact that many women held influential leadership roles in the early church. Not only is this documented in the New Testament but in Romans Paul is commending their service as ministers and deacons, preachers and teachers of the church.
Examples of these women from the New Testament are:
Phoebe – Deacon and Minister (Romans 16:1-7)
Junia – Apostle (Romans 16:1-7)
Priscilla – Church Planter and Leader (Romans 16:1-7)
Lydia – held church in her home (Acts 16:14-150
Philip’s daughters (Acts 21)
Nympha – held church in her home (Colossions 4:15)
“Chosen Lady” – Church and Pastoral Leader (2 John 1:1)
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for all are one in Jesus Christ.
Galations 3:28
Leadership roles are assigned by God as a spiritual gift.
God bestows capabilities and positions upon individuals for His own purposes, these subjects told me, and when He looks for a human vessel He “sees” only the willingness of the soul to serve.
Kwilecki 1987,66
More importantly, Jesus regarded women as fit for preaching and delivering news about Himself to other men. In John 4 the Samaritan woman is the evangelist to an entire community. Jesus entrusts the news of the resurrection to women before men. Also, women are listed as prophets in Acts and Corinthians and prophets clearly have the authority to preach and teach.
Or long answer short: “Tough! God tells me to so I will continue to follow His call whether you agree or not”
There are several elements in the nativity scenes we see and in the carols that we sing that could be said to have used dramatic license – despite the clues in the Gospel passages. For example, when the magi reach Jesus He is no longer a baby in a manger in a stable but a child with his mother in a house. (It is probable that Joseph, at the time of the magi’s visit, was at work), the shepherds were no longer there. They had visited when Jesus was a baby and then returned from whence they came, spreading the good news as they went. And if we shut out the images of these nativity scenes that we are so familiar with and just concentrate on the Gospel passages then we gain a clearer understanding and see the different responses to Jesus.
Herod displayed an open hatred and hostility toward Jesus. He wanted Jesus dead and slaughtered many children in an attempt to achieve this. The chief priests and the scribes were indifferent toward Jesus; they were more concerned about their status and their religious respectability.
But the wise men sought out Jesus and worshipped Him – even at great cost. If we then compare the visit of the wise men to the earlier visit of the shepherds, documented in Luke, we can discern that: Jesus came to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. Jesus came to the humble and ignorant first, then the honourable and learned. Jesus came to the poor first, then the rich.
There are also lessons we can learn from the wise men such as not being satisfied with merely looking at the star and admiring it; the wise men did something about the star, and set out and followed it. They persevered in their search and in following after the star. They were not discouraged in the search by Herod or the doubtful religious leaders. They rejoiced at the star and when they arrived at the destination the star led them to, they entered in and worshipped with a sense of urgency to worship Jesus immediately and not wait to a later time. When they worshipped, it was to give something – not empty-handed adoration.
There is a wonderful pattern to be seen: “Those who look for Jesus will see him: those who truly see him will worship him: those who worship him will consecrate their substance to him.”
The Feast of the Holy Innocents takes place on 28th December.
Doctor Who tells us that time is “wibbly wobbly timey wimey”. That is what we experience throughout the forty days of Christmastide.
Just a few days before the Remembrance of the Holy Innocents we celebrated Jesus’s birth as a teeny tiny human baby. Then at this feast day we jump forward a couple of years to after the magi’s visit and Herod is ordering the slaughter of many children in an attempt to kill Jesus. Then the following week we go back to that visit of the magi before we leap forward to Jesus being a man at His baptism and then a couple of weeks later Jesus is a teeny tiny baby again as He is presented at the Temple.
But for now, let us return to the day when we remember the Holy Innocents whose deaths Herod was responsible for.
Each year we remember that Joseph heeded the warnings and instructions he received, that he took his family to Egypt and that as a result of this the prophecy was fulfilled and Jesus was kept safe to grow into a man, fulfil His mission and be our salvation.
But we skim over the bit where many innocent children were killed by a scared but cruel man who wanted Jesus dead because he thought he would lose his power.
“A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.”
In the Holocaust, approximately 1.5 million Jewish children, and tens of thousands of non-Jewish children were murdered.
The Nazi’s targeted children as part of their ideological goal to create a “radically pure” society and eliminate future generations of “unwanted groups” including Romani, Polish and disabled children.
In the hope of killing one child, Herod had many killed.
Looking back at Moses, who came into the world to bring a kind of deliverance, a new king had risen to power in Egypt. This new king knew nothing of Joseph1 (the Israelite who saved Egypt from the famine). He just saw how numerous the Israelite people were and, wanting to stop the numbers increasing, ordered the death of every Israelite boy born.
There is a constant battle between good and evil in the world and in our own lives.
Evil will always lash out violently towards good. Evil will use any means necessary in an attempt to retain power. There will be resistance when we do good in the world. There will be temptations as we turn away from sin. The strength of these temptations show how committed to change and how committed to doing good we are.
There is wickedness in the world. There are, very sadly, people in this world who will slaughter or arrange the slaughter of thousands and thousands of beautiful, innocent, babies and children, for their own ends, to get what they want and to keep their power.
Evil does not hold back it’s hate for the young and God does not hold back His grace from the young.
God gives us His grace freely and in abundance out of love for us. He is a generous God and there is more than enough grace to encompass everyone no matter their age. He protects us with His grace.
Our world today is, again very sadly, not that different from the world throughout history. We can still see the callousness of Herod and those like him. We still live in a world where innocents are murdered.
We can lament and cry for them. We can pray for their families and friends. But the massacres still continue. Change begins in the human heart and is expressed in what we do and think and say.
It is hard to change a world ingrained with death. But we can contribute to this change. We can demonstrate charity and patience and sanctity of life.
Christ came for our lives, to give us life abundant, sacred and unending.
Herod represents all the powers that stand against Christ; all the people that reject Christ and all the elements of ourselves that want nothing to do with Christ and prefer their independence to His will.
What are we willing to destroy because of our refusal of Christ? What aspects of our own lives and the lives of others are we ready to destroy because of our refusal of Christ?
Herod’s massacre of the innocents is a warning to us. After his death, Herod’s kingdom was divided between the sons he hated. In less than 100 years, everything Herod had built, including the monuments he had intended as structures for his glory, had been reduced to ruins.
Herod is remembered as a petty tyrant. He is not mourned.
We mourn the innocents, the children of Bethlehem, yet they are so often forgotten.
But, in heaven, “where like stars, His children crowned, all in white shall wait“.
Lit candles for prayer and remembrance. (Photo by Rodolfo Clix on Pexels.com)
Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry. A blazing star hung over a stable and wide men came with birthday gifts.
We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries; we celebrate with stars on Christmas trees, the sound of bells and with gifts. But especially with gifts. You give me a book; I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry could do with a new pipe.
We forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled … all that is except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. It’s His birthday we are celebrating. Don’t ever let us forget that.
Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most … and then let each put in his share. Loving kindness, warm hearts and the stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth.
The Bishop’s Wife 1947
But it isn’t just that stocking for the Christ-child that gets forgotten.
Every Christmas churches, and many of us in our homes, have some sort of nativity scene. It reminds us of a profound truth, the incarnation, that moment that God became flesh and walked among men. We celebrate God’s love and grace, that He laid aside His heavenly glory to be born in the humblest of ways to save us by dying for us.
Everything and everyone in these nativity scenes is glorifying the Saviour of the world.
Everyone shown in the nativity is portrayed as a worshipper of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The angels worshipped Him. (Luke 2: 8-14)
The shepherds worshipped Him. (Luke 2: 8-20)
The wise men worshipped Him. (Matthew 2:1-11)
Even the animals, in their own way, worshipped Him. (Romans 1:19-20)
And this is quite right and proper but we have forgotten someone and something.
Jesus came to this world to save us from our sins and reconcile us with God. He came to give His life for those who hated Him and wanted Him dead. As Jesus said in Mark 2:!7 “They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
So who did we forget?
We’ve left out the ignorant. Let us take Caesar Augustus as an example of this. He ordered a census in order to charge more tax. We don’t know what prompted Augustus’s timing but we do know that God was behind the timing.
When God sent His Son into the world there were several factors that made the time right which we overlook, such as the conditions which made it easier to spread the Gospel. Conditions such as Roman law which protected Paul and others as they travelled around the Roman world preaching the Gospel. Roman peace which meant there was a lack of wars within the Roman Empire, enabling the Apostles and other early believers to travel freely without fear. The Roman roads which made travel easier and the Greek language – which was the most common language used at that time and which was an expressive language enabling the deep truth to be explained in great detail.
When Augustus issued his decree he did not know God was using him to fulfil the prophecy of Micah 5:2, that out of Bethlehem in the land of Judah would come the one promised. Both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David, their family line from Bethlehem, and so the order of census forced them to travel to Bethlehem where Jesus was then born.
Whilst being ignorant of the part he played, Augustus was part of God’s plan for Jesus’s birth. Jesus came into the world to save those ignorant of God, the lost, from their sins and from themselves.
It’s not just the ignorant we’ve forgotten, we have also left out the indifferent. Take the innkeeper for example, who kept watch over the inn and collected money from travellers. When Joseph arrived at the inn with a very pregnant Mary the innkeeper was not bothered. He turned them away telling them there was no room. Seeing their plight and that Mary could give birth at any moment, he could have, perhaps, offered them his own room but instead he was indifferent to their need and even the offer of the stable was just an afterthought. He was unmoved and indifferent but still a part of Christ’s birth.
There are many like that innkeeper – only preoccupied with themselves, not moved by the Gospel message or our witness to them. Yet Jesus came to save them too.
John 1:11 “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” Jesus came anyway. He died to save the indifferent anyway so that if they do hear Him and come to Him they can still be saved.
But we haven’t just left out the indifferent and the ignorant. We have also left out the incredulous.
In Luke 2:15-18 we hear how, having believed the angel, seen and worshipped Jesus, the shepherds returned to their sheep telling everyone they met about the baby in the manger and the angel’s message. The people the shepherds told were astonished but they did not go to see and worship baby Jesus themselves. They heard the story, were impressed by the story but then did nothing about it.
Jesus still came and died for these people – those who are so wrapped up in their own lives that, despite being impressed, they ignore the invitation given to them to be saved. The message may be impressive but it can only save you if you turn to Christ in faith. Receive Him and be saved by His grace.
But it is not just the incredulous, the indifferent and the ignorant we have left out. We have also left out the self-righteousness. Those so blind to the truth and who Jesus is that they fail to see even when they see it for themselves with their own eyes. Let us take Saul as an example here. He was a very religious man and a zealous Jew but his self-righteousness had blinded him to who Jesus was. When God “opened his eyes” on the road to Damascus he sees himself as a sinner, repented and God saved his soul. Saul became Paul.
Salvation does not come by doing good alone. Jesus, in His death on the cross, did what we cannot do. Jesus opened a way to God for all who believe in Him. When we truly believe we are saved.
But we didn’t just leave out the self-righteous, the incredulous, the indifferent and the ignorant. We also left out the wicked. The wicked such as Herod, who slaughtered those precious, innocent children. Herod who, once he knew death was near, had 70 Jewish religious leaders executed for the sole purpose of having people weeping as he died. The soldiers who followed these orders of Herod should also be included here. Jesus died to save people such as these so that the wicked could be delivered from their evil.
He died for people like Herod and the soldiers following his orders, for murderers, addicts, thieves, manipulators stepping on people just to get what they want, for those who do not care about others’s feelings and needs, for those full of meanness and hate, for politicians, bankers, stockbrokers, teachers, homemakers, drivers, vicars, priests, bishops and all sinners.
Jesus Christ died for everyone who has ever or who will live, for you and for me.
If we had been there the night of Jesus’s birth then the likelihood is, sadly, that we would not have noticed, that we would not, for whatever reason, gone to worship Him at His birth. Because we are sinners just like everyone else. But He still came, out of grace and love, for us. Our salvation wrapped up in a tiny human baby.
So let us believe anew, repenting and turning to Him who forgives and loves us. And, like the shepherds, may we spread His love and the message of the greatest gift of all to all whom we meet so that they have a chance to also be a part of the salvation Jesus bought for us all.
A long time ago, possibly even in Bethlehem, a story about a little owl called Plop was very popular. The main thing about this story was that Plop, the baby owl, was scared of the dark.
I wonder, who here is, or used to be, scared of the dark?
And how many of you sometimes think that there are monsters or bad things in the dark? Or that the darkness is something bad?
And when a light appears do you feel better?
The opposite of dark is light. So if darkness is bad or scary then the light is good and friendly.
The magical thing about light is that you only need a teeny tiny spark to transform the darkness.
That light, that tiny spark, shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.
There is a lot of darkness in the world, selfishness, greed, things that cause hurt, sin. But a light came into the world and the darkness cannot overcome it.
Jesus is the light of the world, the light in the darkness. And like when one candle shines in the darkness and then another is lit, and then another and another; soon all there is is light.
Jesus starts with us, forgiving the darkness in us so that we can shine; and as each of us are filled with His love, light and forgiveness, the light shines brighter and the darkness diminishes.
Jesus shows us the way to live a good life, full of light and offers us His power to live that way. When He comes again and God’s final judgement comes upon the world the darkness will be banished forever.
When you hold your Christingles look at the candle, as it is lit remember Jesus, the light of the world, whose light vanquishes the darkness.
Let that light into your hearts and lives lighting the way for others to find their way out of darkness into light.
Our task is to be those Christingles (it’s okay, dressing up is optional) to share the joy that comes to us through Jesus and to be His light bringing hope to those in the dark.
In the beginning there was nothing but God. And God created the world and everything in it. He filled the world with all sorts of good things – plants, animals, mountains, rivers, seas, the sun, the moon, and even people. And God saw that everything He had made was good.
But it didn’t stay good. The people did things they should not do. They did not look after what God had allowed them to borrow. They did not look after the world or each other.
This made God sad because He loves us. So He sent us a rescuer, but not just any rescuer. He sent us the best rescuer of all – His precious Son.
Jesus came to be the light to the world, to defeat the darkness and help people come to know God.
A light for everyone, shining in our world, our lives and our hearts.
Even though we are celebrating Christ’s birth (his first coming) on Christmas Day, we are already looking ahead to Easter when Jesus died on the cross and rose again to defeat all the powers of darkness, to defeat all those scary monsters, and to be our salvation.
The ribbon which represents the outpouring of Jesus’s blood also reminds us of the great outpouring of God’s love for us which encompasses the whole of creation.
Christmas and Easter are two parts of the story of God’s love for us. May we live out the truth of that story in our own lives, may we accept again this Christmas the greatest gift of Christ’s light and may we let our little light shine out of the darkness to the glory of God. Amen.
Just because 