Dear Friends,
Joyeux
Noel!
A favourite
group of mine is the Carnival Band with Maddy Prior. They have a song called
‘Stuff’. Some of the words are:-
Christmas time is here
again,
Time for family, time
for friends,
Time for church bells,
time for snow,
Tinsel, robins,
firelight glow,
There is time, but not
enough –
To get ourselves a
load of stuff.
The song
goes on to parody our greed at Christmas.
During my
Local Preacher training, we were introduced to the Charles Wesley’s Hymn (H
& P 109) Let Earth & Heaven Combine. The last two lines in the first
verse are:-
Our God contracted to
a span,
incomprehensibly made man.
For me,
this had a profound effect in my walk with the Lord. The fact that our God was
reduced to a hand span (you can hold a baby in the span of your hand) and that
we cannot comprehend why he did this. Yet he did this because he LOVES us. He
gave his Son to be born and die for everyone.
As
Christians, how do we see this season of Advent and Christmas? Advent (Lat. adventus, “coming, arrival) is
the time of year when we prepare for the arrival of the Christ Child. But how
do we prepare for this? This preparation can take many forms. It often involves
the infamous School Nativity Play, or is our Christmas tree better than our
neighbours? Or as Christians, do we feel
superior to the worldliness of Advent and Christmas? I wonder what kind of picture of Jesus we
present, not just in our churches but as individual Christians.
We see many
nativity scenes presented to us. A very wise minister once asked our church,
What is your Image of Jesus? Is it the baby in the manger? Then, over the
years, has your image of Jesus changed? If it has not, then you are not
maturing in the faith. Jesus changed from a baby to a man who died on the cross
in pain for YOU. If we are growing in faith, then Jesus must grow with us. In
this Advent season, I urge everyone to examine themselves and see where we are
with Jesus.
We have a
wonderful opportunity at this time of year to share Jesus with the world, both
as Churches and Individuals. H&P 465
says:-
We have
a gospel to proclaim,
Good news for all throughout the earth.
In this
time of the year, let us spread the word ‘The Christ has come’, wherever we
are.
A very
Happy Christmas to everyone.
John Wilson
Lay Pastoral Visitor and Co-ordinator
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