I don't know if you've noticed but Christmas is incredibly costly to those involved in it. As Mary, after her visitation by the angel, says "I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me according to your word." it costs her. The first Christmas is not about Mary's dreams being fulfilled, it is about Mary's dreams dying so that she can be part of something bigger. All of Mary's dreams; of a white wedding, a joy and excitement filled lead up to her wedding to Joseph, her reputation in the community as a godly young woman, all of those die as she submits to God's word to her.
She will no longer be the godly young woman she is the teenage harlot who just couldn't wait, or who went behind Joseph's back. Those rumours would follow her into Jesus adulthood. Imagine the cost to her relationship to Joseph, he has in mind to divorce her, and takes an angelic visitation to change his mind. As Mary bursts into God honouring praise in the Magnificat it is because she has wrestled with the death of her dreams and accepted that God's promise and plan is better.
Christmas asks us whether we have wrestled with that very issue? Have my dreams died in order for me to follow Jesus? Accepting Jesus as Lord means the death of my worldly dreams in order to be involved in God's greater plan to save a lost world through the good news of his Son. And it is not a one off wrestle. Proclaiming Jesus as Lord means bowing the knee, submitting to his way not my way, daily.
All our dreams of significance, ease, wealth, achievement need to be given over to Jesus and they may well die in order for us to do what he has for us to do in pursuit of his glory. Our society calls us again and again and again to adopt and pursue its dreams. Christmas challenges us with the call that following Jesus means submitting to him, even our dreams, and echoing Mary's words "I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me according to your word."
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Monday, 14 December 2015
Forgetting the Incarnation
Christmas is the time of year when we think about and focus on the incarnation. But one of the dangers is that in doing so at Christmas we only ever teach about it in ways that focus on calling people to follow Jesus rather than the implications for our discipleship. It is right that we make the most of the wonderful opportunity Christmas brings with it's nativity and carol services and ready and willing visitors. But do we forget the lesson of the incarnation the rest of the year?
How did God show his love among us? 1 John 4v9 "In this was the love of God made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might live through him." God shows his love by sending Jesus who comes into the world, becoming God incarnate, Immanuel, God with us. Love sees Jesus leave all the splendour and glory of heaven, not grasping at what was his by right, what he deserved, but laying it aside to become a man.
What does the incarnation teach us? Many things but chief among them must be that love lives alongside of, amongst, amidst those it seeks to love. Just think about the way we parent, we show love not from a distance but by living alongside, amidst, our children in the family. What about church? What about in our communities? I can't help but think that we are losing something of the incarnation aspect of love when we don't live in the communities we seek to reach. I can speak from experience about the value of living in the community you are trying to reach, sending your children to local schools, being at the school gate, living life in the neighbourhood.
Yet there are a number of trends that worry me. Why do we talk about the need for professional distance? Teachers are advised not to get jobs at the school they live near. Doctors don't tend to live in the community their GP practice serves. Even pastors are sometimes living outside of the communities their churches are serving. Certainly many church members live at a distance from their churches. If one of the ways we show love is by being alongside of, amongst, in the midst of those we want to see reached with the gospel why is this happening?
This Christmas we need to preach the love shown by the incarnation but we also need to sit and meditate on the lessons it calls us to learn about how we love those we want to reach with the gospel. What will it mean for us to be God's love incarnate?
How did God show his love among us? 1 John 4v9 "In this was the love of God made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might live through him." God shows his love by sending Jesus who comes into the world, becoming God incarnate, Immanuel, God with us. Love sees Jesus leave all the splendour and glory of heaven, not grasping at what was his by right, what he deserved, but laying it aside to become a man.
What does the incarnation teach us? Many things but chief among them must be that love lives alongside of, amongst, amidst those it seeks to love. Just think about the way we parent, we show love not from a distance but by living alongside, amidst, our children in the family. What about church? What about in our communities? I can't help but think that we are losing something of the incarnation aspect of love when we don't live in the communities we seek to reach. I can speak from experience about the value of living in the community you are trying to reach, sending your children to local schools, being at the school gate, living life in the neighbourhood.
Yet there are a number of trends that worry me. Why do we talk about the need for professional distance? Teachers are advised not to get jobs at the school they live near. Doctors don't tend to live in the community their GP practice serves. Even pastors are sometimes living outside of the communities their churches are serving. Certainly many church members live at a distance from their churches. If one of the ways we show love is by being alongside of, amongst, in the midst of those we want to see reached with the gospel why is this happening?
This Christmas we need to preach the love shown by the incarnation but we also need to sit and meditate on the lessons it calls us to learn about how we love those we want to reach with the gospel. What will it mean for us to be God's love incarnate?
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Why we do what we do at Christmas
I was outlining the upcoming plans for Christmas: A Nativity service on the 14th Dec, an impromptu Nativity Service on 21st Dec, a Christmas Eve Carol service, and a Christmas Morning Service. When someone asked me why we do what we do? Why have two nativity services? Why do a service on Christmas Eve? Well here's my reasoning:
The Nativity service is when the Sunday school children put on their Christmas play/nativity. There are a number of reasons why we do this: Firstly it's a great chance for the church family to allow the children to serve us, and for us to show our appreciation and love for them. Evangelistically this is the service non believing family members are most likely to come to, be it dad or mum, or Aunt and Uncles or Grandparents. We've had them all the in the past and we want to make the most of that gospel opportunity as we share the good news of Jesus, God with us.
So why have an Impromptu Nativity Service. This service is a bit more wacky I guess. Very simply anyone can come along and play a part in the Nativity, it is more light hearted and fun, and we have a very gifted young lady in church we writes great scripts for this. It takes a lot of improvising, last year one of King Herod's henchmen was batman, and you never know how many shepherds, kings, Josephs and angels you are going to get. Why do we do it? We have friends who come every year with their children dressed up to play different parts and who love it, we hope it'll become a tradition in the community. It is light hearted and helps show those who come that we love to have fun. But again it provides an opportunity for people to come along and hear the gospel taught.
Why Christmas Eve? This is the first year we've run this service so I may think differently about it by the 27th, but the theory goes something like this. We have had a number of people from the community ask us if we do a Christmas Eve midnight service. Whilst we are not going that far, ours is at 5pm, we are hoping that it becomes something of a traditional way to mark Christmas Eve for our community. It'll be traditional with lots of Carols, Christmas readings and a 7-10 minute talk. We are praying that this service will include all those who've been to the two above and others from the surrounding area. Unlike in many middle class areas most folks in our area aren't away over Christmas, they are here. So we'll pray and we'll trust God and do it.
Why Christmas Morning? What better way than to start Christmas (well 6 hours in for those whose children will be up around 4am) than singing God's praise and reminding everyone what christmas is really about. And there is real joy in being able to do that with your church family too.
So there we are, that's why we are doing what we are doing over Christmas. Please be praying for gospel fruit as people meet Jesus.
The Nativity service is when the Sunday school children put on their Christmas play/nativity. There are a number of reasons why we do this: Firstly it's a great chance for the church family to allow the children to serve us, and for us to show our appreciation and love for them. Evangelistically this is the service non believing family members are most likely to come to, be it dad or mum, or Aunt and Uncles or Grandparents. We've had them all the in the past and we want to make the most of that gospel opportunity as we share the good news of Jesus, God with us.
So why have an Impromptu Nativity Service. This service is a bit more wacky I guess. Very simply anyone can come along and play a part in the Nativity, it is more light hearted and fun, and we have a very gifted young lady in church we writes great scripts for this. It takes a lot of improvising, last year one of King Herod's henchmen was batman, and you never know how many shepherds, kings, Josephs and angels you are going to get. Why do we do it? We have friends who come every year with their children dressed up to play different parts and who love it, we hope it'll become a tradition in the community. It is light hearted and helps show those who come that we love to have fun. But again it provides an opportunity for people to come along and hear the gospel taught.
Why Christmas Eve? This is the first year we've run this service so I may think differently about it by the 27th, but the theory goes something like this. We have had a number of people from the community ask us if we do a Christmas Eve midnight service. Whilst we are not going that far, ours is at 5pm, we are hoping that it becomes something of a traditional way to mark Christmas Eve for our community. It'll be traditional with lots of Carols, Christmas readings and a 7-10 minute talk. We are praying that this service will include all those who've been to the two above and others from the surrounding area. Unlike in many middle class areas most folks in our area aren't away over Christmas, they are here. So we'll pray and we'll trust God and do it.
Why Christmas Morning? What better way than to start Christmas (well 6 hours in for those whose children will be up around 4am) than singing God's praise and reminding everyone what christmas is really about. And there is real joy in being able to do that with your church family too.
So there we are, that's why we are doing what we are doing over Christmas. Please be praying for gospel fruit as people meet Jesus.
Can't stop listening to this
I came across this reworking of God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen at the weekend and I can't stop humming it... Brilliant.
Friday, 23 December 2011
Luke 2:1-20 – The King is in the Building
If you had to come up with a slogan to sum up the society we live what would it be? Perhaps L’Oreal have come closest with ‘Because you’re worthy it!’ That sentiment; you deserve it, you matter, is actually behind most advertising.
I was listening to the radio when someone said they loved Christmas because it was the one time of the year when we think about others. It made me think – is that true? Is L’Oreal’s slogan turned on its head for a couple of weeks at Christmas? I have to say I’m not convinced about that.
There is a danger that we can carry the ‘because I’m worth it’ idea over into our reading of the Christmas story. Why did Jesus come – because I’m worth it! Actually yes Jesus is important but actually it’s all about us. But did you notice that in the readings we have had this morning humanity is almost missing. The real focus is on God.
We recently watched the Muppet Treasure Island and one of our boys groaned and said ‘Oh! Dad why do they have to keep singing!’ You could say that about Luke’s Christmas story. Just look at ch1 Mary bursts into praise, that’s followed by Zechariah, then in our reading you get the ultimate choir – no, not the winners of Last Choir Standing - but the angels – not cute little blonde girls in white dresses and tinsel but the heavenly armies of warriors of light, and that’s followed by the shepherds who go back to their fields praising. Who do they all praise? It is God, for what God is doing. Because actually that is what Christmas is all about, God being worshipped.
1. Wrong Worship
What would you say you worship? We all worship – we all have something that gives us significance and that matters intensely to us.
Luke gives us a picture of just that in Augustus Caesar (1). What is Caesar doing? He is carrying out a census of his empire. Why? Because he wants to know how great he is, in fact my hunch is that he wanted it recorded so that he made his mark in history. Do you see what gave Caesar significance it was his empire, how many lands he had conquered, who he ruled over, the extent of his power.
You see it again in Matthew with Herod – why does he kill all the infant boys in Bethlehem because his rule his reign mattered more than anything else.
How about us, what gives us significance? Maybe it’s a relationship, or family, or career, or money, or things. We may think they give us significance but ultimately each of those things will leave us dissatisfied – if we centre our life on relationships we will be jealous, emotionally dependent and manipulative, unable to take even perceived criticism. If we centre our life on family we will try to live our life through theirs and what happens when they grow up and leave? If we centre our life and identity on work and career we will be workaholics and what happens to our sense of worth if we lose our job, if we centre our life on money and possessions we’ll never be content and end up envious of others and bitter because you can’t take it with you. If you centre your life on religion and doing good you will end up judgemental and proud.
I wonder what you think sin is. Most people think sin is breaking the Ten Commandments, or any other commandments, it is doing bad things. But actually sin is more than that it is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose and happiness than your relationship with God. In fact the 10 commandments start out with that very idea “You shall have no other gods before me’. Sin is failing to live rightly relating to God.
We all worship something – what do you worship?
2. Restored Worship
But the great news, the reason for all the singing in the nativity story is that God sends his son to call us back to restored worship and how he does so is amazing.
What do you think the cost of a state visit is? For George Bush’s 2003 state visit the policing bill alone was £4.1million. Then you have the cost of flights, his retinue and security service, the lavish banquets, clean up that goes on beforehand, the red carpet. I guess you wouldn’t get much, if any, change from £12mill.
But the astonishing thing here is the way God gets glory for himself. Besides the heavenly choir which appears on a hillside to shepherds, and a star which only travellers from the east saw it is very low key. The setting is a stable, there is no red carpet, and there isn’t even a cot. And yet what is happening is mind blowing. God becomes man, the one who created everything becomes part of his creation, and the one who has been worshipped for eternity by these warriors of light becomes a baby. He enters humanity as a single cell, he grows and develops in Mary’s womb, his heart starts beating, his legs and arms grow and finally he is born dependent. From all the splendour and glory of heaven to nursing at his teenage mother, from majesty to learning to crawl. It is absolutely astonishing.
And he comes to bring people back to worshipping God rightly. He comes to bring God glory by calling us to worship our creator as we were made to do.
Later in life Jesus told the Story of the Greedy Farmhands
"There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.”
**What does the wealthy farmer deserve? – he deserves his due, his share of the profits.
"The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. The owner tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. The owner was at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. 'Surely,' he thought, 'they will respect my son.'
That is what Christmas is all about – God sends his son so that we will gives God his due. So that we will stop destructively centring our lives around the wrong thing and relate rightly to God.
"But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands in greed. 'This is the heir! Let's kill him and have it all for ourselves.' They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him.”
"Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip, what do you think he will do to the farmhands?"
"He'll kill them—a rotten bunch, and good riddance," they answered. "Then he'll assign the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it's time."
Christmas is not about us it is all about God. It is about God sending his son to turn us from our sin – from seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to our significance, purpose and happiness than our relationship with God.
But it is about more than a warning. Jesus does it for us – that is God’s plan he stands in our place not just to show us what to do but to live that perfect life because we can’t do it. And as he dies he does so for our wrong worship, and by asking God for forgiveness for putting something else in his place and by trusting in what Jesus does for us we can have a relationship with God, we can like the shepherds learn to live echoing the angels praise.
Maybe you want to explore this a bit more why not pick up a book, a Bible or talk to a friend who invited you along this morning.
Maybe you have trusted in Jesus for a long time. It’s a great opportunity just to think about, to refresh, to ask God to help you by his Holy Spirit to live for his glory. To check nothing else has crept into the place of significance in your life that relationship with God should have.
God is great, that is what Christmas tells us and he wants us to know him and live our lives in relationship to him.
I was listening to the radio when someone said they loved Christmas because it was the one time of the year when we think about others. It made me think – is that true? Is L’Oreal’s slogan turned on its head for a couple of weeks at Christmas? I have to say I’m not convinced about that.
There is a danger that we can carry the ‘because I’m worth it’ idea over into our reading of the Christmas story. Why did Jesus come – because I’m worth it! Actually yes Jesus is important but actually it’s all about us. But did you notice that in the readings we have had this morning humanity is almost missing. The real focus is on God.
We recently watched the Muppet Treasure Island and one of our boys groaned and said ‘Oh! Dad why do they have to keep singing!’ You could say that about Luke’s Christmas story. Just look at ch1 Mary bursts into praise, that’s followed by Zechariah, then in our reading you get the ultimate choir – no, not the winners of Last Choir Standing - but the angels – not cute little blonde girls in white dresses and tinsel but the heavenly armies of warriors of light, and that’s followed by the shepherds who go back to their fields praising. Who do they all praise? It is God, for what God is doing. Because actually that is what Christmas is all about, God being worshipped.
1. Wrong Worship
What would you say you worship? We all worship – we all have something that gives us significance and that matters intensely to us.
Luke gives us a picture of just that in Augustus Caesar (1). What is Caesar doing? He is carrying out a census of his empire. Why? Because he wants to know how great he is, in fact my hunch is that he wanted it recorded so that he made his mark in history. Do you see what gave Caesar significance it was his empire, how many lands he had conquered, who he ruled over, the extent of his power.
You see it again in Matthew with Herod – why does he kill all the infant boys in Bethlehem because his rule his reign mattered more than anything else.
How about us, what gives us significance? Maybe it’s a relationship, or family, or career, or money, or things. We may think they give us significance but ultimately each of those things will leave us dissatisfied – if we centre our life on relationships we will be jealous, emotionally dependent and manipulative, unable to take even perceived criticism. If we centre our life on family we will try to live our life through theirs and what happens when they grow up and leave? If we centre our life and identity on work and career we will be workaholics and what happens to our sense of worth if we lose our job, if we centre our life on money and possessions we’ll never be content and end up envious of others and bitter because you can’t take it with you. If you centre your life on religion and doing good you will end up judgemental and proud.
I wonder what you think sin is. Most people think sin is breaking the Ten Commandments, or any other commandments, it is doing bad things. But actually sin is more than that it is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose and happiness than your relationship with God. In fact the 10 commandments start out with that very idea “You shall have no other gods before me’. Sin is failing to live rightly relating to God.
We all worship something – what do you worship?
2. Restored Worship
But the great news, the reason for all the singing in the nativity story is that God sends his son to call us back to restored worship and how he does so is amazing.
What do you think the cost of a state visit is? For George Bush’s 2003 state visit the policing bill alone was £4.1million. Then you have the cost of flights, his retinue and security service, the lavish banquets, clean up that goes on beforehand, the red carpet. I guess you wouldn’t get much, if any, change from £12mill.
But the astonishing thing here is the way God gets glory for himself. Besides the heavenly choir which appears on a hillside to shepherds, and a star which only travellers from the east saw it is very low key. The setting is a stable, there is no red carpet, and there isn’t even a cot. And yet what is happening is mind blowing. God becomes man, the one who created everything becomes part of his creation, and the one who has been worshipped for eternity by these warriors of light becomes a baby. He enters humanity as a single cell, he grows and develops in Mary’s womb, his heart starts beating, his legs and arms grow and finally he is born dependent. From all the splendour and glory of heaven to nursing at his teenage mother, from majesty to learning to crawl. It is absolutely astonishing.
And he comes to bring people back to worshipping God rightly. He comes to bring God glory by calling us to worship our creator as we were made to do.
Later in life Jesus told the Story of the Greedy Farmhands
"There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.”
**What does the wealthy farmer deserve? – he deserves his due, his share of the profits.
"The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. The owner tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. The owner was at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. 'Surely,' he thought, 'they will respect my son.'
That is what Christmas is all about – God sends his son so that we will gives God his due. So that we will stop destructively centring our lives around the wrong thing and relate rightly to God.
"But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands in greed. 'This is the heir! Let's kill him and have it all for ourselves.' They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him.”
"Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip, what do you think he will do to the farmhands?"
"He'll kill them—a rotten bunch, and good riddance," they answered. "Then he'll assign the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it's time."
Christmas is not about us it is all about God. It is about God sending his son to turn us from our sin – from seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to our significance, purpose and happiness than our relationship with God.
But it is about more than a warning. Jesus does it for us – that is God’s plan he stands in our place not just to show us what to do but to live that perfect life because we can’t do it. And as he dies he does so for our wrong worship, and by asking God for forgiveness for putting something else in his place and by trusting in what Jesus does for us we can have a relationship with God, we can like the shepherds learn to live echoing the angels praise.
Maybe you want to explore this a bit more why not pick up a book, a Bible or talk to a friend who invited you along this morning.
Maybe you have trusted in Jesus for a long time. It’s a great opportunity just to think about, to refresh, to ask God to help you by his Holy Spirit to live for his glory. To check nothing else has crept into the place of significance in your life that relationship with God should have.
God is great, that is what Christmas tells us and he wants us to know him and live our lives in relationship to him.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
An Impromptu Nativity
We did this on Sunday as a fun alternative to a traditional nativity, the children and adults loved it and it was a lot less stressful in terms of preparation. We got some people to bring any props they had - sheep, wings, tinsel, tea towels, a baby and crib etc... We also had fun usually giving characters short bits to say but sometimes with adults testing them with long monologues! The audience participate as they play the role of the choir.
Characters:
Narrator - script
Angels – fairy wings, tinsel for heads (Badge for Gabriel) (Choose big strong men)
Shepherds – crooks and sheep, tea towels
Joseph – Toy hammer, saw, B&Q apron
Mary –
Herod – Crown
Wise men – crowns and gifts
Star – Cardboard star
[Get cast with props. Explain; you need to listen carefully and do what you are supposed to do and say any lines that your character says] Oh hang on a minute – there is no Wise men, or star, or Herod in the bibles nativity, they never arrive at the manger, they come later – so sorry you can sit down
Scene 1 – Amazing News
Mary was sat in her house in Galilee when suddenly the Angel Gabriel appeared to her and said, "Greetings you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you."
Mary was very upset because of his words she wondered what kind of greeting this could be. But the angel said, "Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is very pleased with you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. God will make him a king like his father David of long ago. He will rule forever over his people, who came from Jacob's family and His kingdom will never end."
"How can this happen?" Mary asked the angel.
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of the Most High God will cover you. So the holy one that is born will be called the Son of God. Nothing is impossible with God."
"I serve the Lord," Mary answered. "May it happen to me just as you say." Then the angel left her.
Scene 2 – A worried Joseph has a visitor
[Troubled Joseph paces in another house, before going to sleep]. Now Joseph was a good man and didn’t want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he had decided to quietly call off the wedding. While he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, "Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
Joseph did what the angel had said.
Sing: Angels from the realms of glory
Scene 3 – Travelling to Bethlehem and Birth
Caesar Augustus made a law. It required that a list be made of everyone in the whole Roman world. Everyone went to their own towns to be listed.
So Joseph went from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the town of David with Mary because he belonged to the family line of David. [Get characters to enact going on a long journey]
While Joseph and Mary were there, the time came for the child to be born. She gave birth to her first baby. It was a boy. She wrapped him in large strips of cloth and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
Sing: Away in a Manger
Scene 3 – Shepherds worship
There were shepherds living in the fields nearby. It was night and they were looking after their sheep. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were terrified.
But the angel said, "Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. Here is how you will know I am telling you the truth. You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a large group of angels from heaven also appeared. They were praising God. They sang [get angels to improvise a song],
"May glory be given to God in the highest heaven!
And may peace be given to those he is pleased with on earth!"
The angels left and went into heaven. Then the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
So they hurried off [shepherds head off through congregation] and found Mary and Joseph and the baby. The baby was lying in the manger. After the shepherds had seen him, they told everyone. They reported what the angel had said about this child and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. [Shepherds run back through the crowd shouting out the news]
But Mary kept all these things like a secret treasure in her heart. She thought about them over and over.
The shepherds returned giving glory and praise to God. Everything they had seen and heard was just as they had been told.
Sing: Once in Royal David’s City
Characters:
Narrator - script
Angels – fairy wings, tinsel for heads (Badge for Gabriel) (Choose big strong men)
Shepherds – crooks and sheep, tea towels
Joseph – Toy hammer, saw, B&Q apron
Mary –
Herod – Crown
Wise men – crowns and gifts
Star – Cardboard star
[Get cast with props. Explain; you need to listen carefully and do what you are supposed to do and say any lines that your character says] Oh hang on a minute – there is no Wise men, or star, or Herod in the bibles nativity, they never arrive at the manger, they come later – so sorry you can sit down
Scene 1 – Amazing News
Mary was sat in her house in Galilee when suddenly the Angel Gabriel appeared to her and said, "Greetings you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you."
Mary was very upset because of his words she wondered what kind of greeting this could be. But the angel said, "Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is very pleased with you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. God will make him a king like his father David of long ago. He will rule forever over his people, who came from Jacob's family and His kingdom will never end."
"How can this happen?" Mary asked the angel.
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of the Most High God will cover you. So the holy one that is born will be called the Son of God. Nothing is impossible with God."
"I serve the Lord," Mary answered. "May it happen to me just as you say." Then the angel left her.
Scene 2 – A worried Joseph has a visitor
[Troubled Joseph paces in another house, before going to sleep]. Now Joseph was a good man and didn’t want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he had decided to quietly call off the wedding. While he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, "Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
Joseph did what the angel had said.
Sing: Angels from the realms of glory
Scene 3 – Travelling to Bethlehem and Birth
Caesar Augustus made a law. It required that a list be made of everyone in the whole Roman world. Everyone went to their own towns to be listed.
So Joseph went from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the town of David with Mary because he belonged to the family line of David. [Get characters to enact going on a long journey]
While Joseph and Mary were there, the time came for the child to be born. She gave birth to her first baby. It was a boy. She wrapped him in large strips of cloth and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
Sing: Away in a Manger
Scene 3 – Shepherds worship
There were shepherds living in the fields nearby. It was night and they were looking after their sheep. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were terrified.
But the angel said, "Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. Here is how you will know I am telling you the truth. You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a large group of angels from heaven also appeared. They were praising God. They sang [get angels to improvise a song],
"May glory be given to God in the highest heaven!
And may peace be given to those he is pleased with on earth!"
The angels left and went into heaven. Then the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
So they hurried off [shepherds head off through congregation] and found Mary and Joseph and the baby. The baby was lying in the manger. After the shepherds had seen him, they told everyone. They reported what the angel had said about this child and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. [Shepherds run back through the crowd shouting out the news]
But Mary kept all these things like a secret treasure in her heart. She thought about them over and over.
The shepherds returned giving glory and praise to God. Everything they had seen and heard was just as they had been told.
Sing: Once in Royal David’s City
Thursday, 15 December 2011
The Edible Nativity
This morning was the last assembly of term for me and it was the Christmas assembly, I always find it hard to come up with new ideas year on year, so thought I'd share this with others.
As background prep Lucy and I made and iced a biscuit nativity set with Stable, Star, Shepherds, Sheep, Wise Men, Camels, Baby Jesus in a manger, Mary and Joseph. (You can see a picture at http://twitgoo.com/539ugw)
We started the assembly by talking about What time of year is it? How many days to go?
Then began by asking what do you normally have as a background to the nativity? Stable - produce and set up stable. Who or what is in the stable? Mary, Joseph, Donkey, Baby Jesus, Star, Camels, Sheep, Shepherds, Wise men.
But actually not all of those were at the actual nativity scene - as you talk about them either eat them yourself or give them to a child or teacher to eat:
That is good news – its why we celebrate Christmas because Jesus is God’s gift to us a gift that brings peace. Our Christmas can be a bit crowded just like our nativity scene was and the danger is we look at the crowd not at Jesus. But the Bible tells us without Jesus - God made man come to save us there would be no Christmas, no great news, no happy celebration.
As background prep Lucy and I made and iced a biscuit nativity set with Stable, Star, Shepherds, Sheep, Wise Men, Camels, Baby Jesus in a manger, Mary and Joseph. (You can see a picture at http://twitgoo.com/539ugw)
We started the assembly by talking about What time of year is it? How many days to go?
Then began by asking what do you normally have as a background to the nativity? Stable - produce and set up stable. Who or what is in the stable? Mary, Joseph, Donkey, Baby Jesus, Star, Camels, Sheep, Shepherds, Wise men.
But actually not all of those were at the actual nativity scene - as you talk about them either eat them yourself or give them to a child or teacher to eat:
- Stable – It wasn't a stable like we think of it but probably a cave in the rock, or a spare room (eat it)
- The bible doesn’t tell us Mary rode on a donkey (eat it)
- The wise men don’t visit when Jesus is born but some time later when they are living in a house (eat camels, wise men)
- And we aren't told that the shepherd bought any sheep with them.
That is good news – its why we celebrate Christmas because Jesus is God’s gift to us a gift that brings peace. Our Christmas can be a bit crowded just like our nativity scene was and the danger is we look at the crowd not at Jesus. But the Bible tells us without Jesus - God made man come to save us there would be no Christmas, no great news, no happy celebration.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Isaiah 9:6 A Son is given
One of my favourite films is Batman the Dark Knight, in that film Batman battles with the forces of evil and crime in Gotham City, seemingly alone against a vast array of enemies lined up against him. Harvey Dent at one point says to Bruce Wayne this “The night is darkest just before dawn”. As we turn and look and Isaiah 9v6 this morning you could apply that very modern saying to this situation. This morning we are going to simply look at this verse under those headings.
Darkness
(2)”The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned”
It is a bleak description of what life in like in Judah. Just glance up at the end of chapter 8 and you’ll see that it isn’t a throw away line, the words there are so bleak; distress, hungry, famished, darkness, fearful gloom, utter darkness. Israel is in pitch blackness.
Ch1-7 catalogue some of that blackness as God describes what he has seen in his people; meaningless offerings, rampant injustice, corrupt rulers, superstition, divination, idolatry, arrogance, parading of their sins, drunkenness and alcoholism, and a refusal to trust in God rather than trust in political alliances. And in the background lurk the superpower of the day, Assyria who look covetously at Judah, like a vulture just bidding their time.
It is a bleak hopeless picture. It is a thick darkness so dark that it’s as if you can feel it. There is no hope. As you read these opening chapters it is so depressing, it seems so hopeless. All is darkness.
But it is not an isolated description, in fact darkness is used throughout the bible to describe a world, or an individual who lives life without knowing God. Darkness comes into the world from the moment Adam and Eve decide that actually we can decide right and wrong for ourselves without reference to God, and it has continued that way ever since.
Perhaps you are sat here this morning and you are saying so you are saying I am in darkness? Yes, that is what the bible says. You may make good decisions but you don’t do so for good motives, often the motives are dark – they are self interested. Life lived without knowing God is life lived in darkness, without seeing the true picture of what life is really like or really about. Keep listening because in a minute we are going to talk about the light.
Maybe you are here this morning and you feel that darkness at the moment and it is sucking your hope. You see your faith mocked in the media, derided on TV, you face opposition at work and in your family. Darkness, and it feels so thick that sometimes you begin to lose your grip on your hope. Or maybe this morning it is bereavement or fear that is that darkness that threatens to overwhelm you, there was certainly lots of that around in Judah. Maybe Christmas will bring home the loss of a loved one or the fear that you may lose a loved one, and the darkness of the world we live in so infected with sin and all its attendant effects threatens your fear. You need to listen to this hope.
It is against this bleak, bleak background that Isaiah reveals the light.
Light
Notice how he describes the light, this is no flickering feeble candle, or single beam torch which doesn’t dispel the darkness but just makes you more aware of the small beams feebleness. It is a great light, it is like the sun rising at dawn as darkness flees before it, this is a light that drives away the thick cloying darkness.
And look at what this light brings with it (3-5) it brings joy to a nation that is now secure, it brings food to those who before were famished, it brings the defeat of their enemies and the threats they faced. This is a total rescue, this is not a temporary respite, this is a new kingdom, this is a hope to hold on to in the bleakness. It is a total reversal of the hopelessness, this is a hope to believe in.
What is this hope? How does (6) start? “For”, in other words all these things will happen because “to us a child is born, to us a son is given”
The hope for God’s people is not in a new superpower or alliance, it is not in the King suddenly coming to his senses the hope is in a child who is to be born. The hope is in Jesus God’s long promised King.
And notice that this is a child that is born, he is human born in the same way as other babies except that he is born of a virgin (c/f Ch7) in a stable in Bethlehem. Just as an aside some of you may be thinking how can anyone be born of a virgin? – all it takes for the virgin birth is for God to exist, if God exists and he is God by nature a virgin giving birth, though a miracle to us, is not a big deal to him.
Jesus is God’s long promised king he leaves all the splendour of heaven and steps down onto earth, he is born, he eats, he cries, he sleeps, he grows, he experiences all the darkness and all the struggles of living in the world we live in.
John 1v5-14. John picks up on Isaiah’s language of Son and Darkness, and says it is Jesus, and he gives us John the Baptist as a witness that Jesus is the light, he is this child, he is this Son.
Our hope is in the Son of God incarnate, it is in Jesus who is for us, who comes to earth because he is for us, who lives for us, and who dies for us, and is resurrected for us, and who now reigns at his father’s side and is for us. We could never get out of the darkness ourselves, we need a light to come.
But notice something else he comes born as a child, but he also is “a son is given.” He is the descendant of David, the ruler in the line of David who takes the throne of David and will rule for ever. But he is also given, God gives his Son to a world that is in darkness, that has rejected him and rebelled against him and forgotten him and deliberately turned its back on him. To such a world God gives his Son.
Christmas really is all about giving. That’s a hard thing to teach our children isn’t it, you tell them that and they think ‘Yeah Right! That’s just because you don’t get good presents!’ But Christmas is when we remember God giving his Son to a world utterly undeserving of such a gift, in fact deserving of exactly the opposite.
John picks this up again in 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Do you see the love and grace and goodness of God? Christmas is about true giving!
How do you know how God feels about you? Do you listen to TV programmes like the Simpsons and others which say you can judge how God feels about you based on how life is going. If things are going badly then God is angry with you if you are being blessed then God loves you. Don’t listen to that, listen to Isaiah – God loves you so much he sends his son into the world for you not because you were good or nice, but because you are or were in darkness and he wants to save you.
We are more wicked than we ever realised – we are in darkness, but we are more loved by God than we have ever dreamed – he sends his Son to save us. In Jesus God offers his Son to us, just like any present you are offered the question is will you accept him? Will you put your trust in him? Do you recognise that you live in darkness and need the light, that you make decisions but can’t seem to see clearly how and why you are making them? This Christmas God says accept the greatest gift I give to you.
We need to realise again the nature of the good news of the gospel, in Jesus God breaks into the world and starts overturning, driving out the darkness one life at a time. Creating communities of hope, beacons of light in the darkness where the presence of Jesus lives on by his Holy Spirit, a community that is called to light up the darkness.
It is why as Christians we love Christmas, its why we celebrate, its why we can never be bah humbug about Christmas. It is a reminder of our hope, our light coming into darkness, of salvation gifted to us by God in Jesus. And it points us to a day when the light will not only be in our hearts but when the sun will rise and sin and darkness flee away never to be seen again.
Darkness
(2)”The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned”
It is a bleak description of what life in like in Judah. Just glance up at the end of chapter 8 and you’ll see that it isn’t a throw away line, the words there are so bleak; distress, hungry, famished, darkness, fearful gloom, utter darkness. Israel is in pitch blackness.
Ch1-7 catalogue some of that blackness as God describes what he has seen in his people; meaningless offerings, rampant injustice, corrupt rulers, superstition, divination, idolatry, arrogance, parading of their sins, drunkenness and alcoholism, and a refusal to trust in God rather than trust in political alliances. And in the background lurk the superpower of the day, Assyria who look covetously at Judah, like a vulture just bidding their time.
It is a bleak hopeless picture. It is a thick darkness so dark that it’s as if you can feel it. There is no hope. As you read these opening chapters it is so depressing, it seems so hopeless. All is darkness.
But it is not an isolated description, in fact darkness is used throughout the bible to describe a world, or an individual who lives life without knowing God. Darkness comes into the world from the moment Adam and Eve decide that actually we can decide right and wrong for ourselves without reference to God, and it has continued that way ever since.
Perhaps you are sat here this morning and you are saying so you are saying I am in darkness? Yes, that is what the bible says. You may make good decisions but you don’t do so for good motives, often the motives are dark – they are self interested. Life lived without knowing God is life lived in darkness, without seeing the true picture of what life is really like or really about. Keep listening because in a minute we are going to talk about the light.
Maybe you are here this morning and you feel that darkness at the moment and it is sucking your hope. You see your faith mocked in the media, derided on TV, you face opposition at work and in your family. Darkness, and it feels so thick that sometimes you begin to lose your grip on your hope. Or maybe this morning it is bereavement or fear that is that darkness that threatens to overwhelm you, there was certainly lots of that around in Judah. Maybe Christmas will bring home the loss of a loved one or the fear that you may lose a loved one, and the darkness of the world we live in so infected with sin and all its attendant effects threatens your fear. You need to listen to this hope.
It is against this bleak, bleak background that Isaiah reveals the light.
Light
Notice how he describes the light, this is no flickering feeble candle, or single beam torch which doesn’t dispel the darkness but just makes you more aware of the small beams feebleness. It is a great light, it is like the sun rising at dawn as darkness flees before it, this is a light that drives away the thick cloying darkness.
And look at what this light brings with it (3-5) it brings joy to a nation that is now secure, it brings food to those who before were famished, it brings the defeat of their enemies and the threats they faced. This is a total rescue, this is not a temporary respite, this is a new kingdom, this is a hope to hold on to in the bleakness. It is a total reversal of the hopelessness, this is a hope to believe in.
What is this hope? How does (6) start? “For”, in other words all these things will happen because “to us a child is born, to us a son is given”
The hope for God’s people is not in a new superpower or alliance, it is not in the King suddenly coming to his senses the hope is in a child who is to be born. The hope is in Jesus God’s long promised King.
And notice that this is a child that is born, he is human born in the same way as other babies except that he is born of a virgin (c/f Ch7) in a stable in Bethlehem. Just as an aside some of you may be thinking how can anyone be born of a virgin? – all it takes for the virgin birth is for God to exist, if God exists and he is God by nature a virgin giving birth, though a miracle to us, is not a big deal to him.
Jesus is God’s long promised king he leaves all the splendour of heaven and steps down onto earth, he is born, he eats, he cries, he sleeps, he grows, he experiences all the darkness and all the struggles of living in the world we live in.
John 1v5-14. John picks up on Isaiah’s language of Son and Darkness, and says it is Jesus, and he gives us John the Baptist as a witness that Jesus is the light, he is this child, he is this Son.
Our hope is in the Son of God incarnate, it is in Jesus who is for us, who comes to earth because he is for us, who lives for us, and who dies for us, and is resurrected for us, and who now reigns at his father’s side and is for us. We could never get out of the darkness ourselves, we need a light to come.
But notice something else he comes born as a child, but he also is “a son is given.” He is the descendant of David, the ruler in the line of David who takes the throne of David and will rule for ever. But he is also given, God gives his Son to a world that is in darkness, that has rejected him and rebelled against him and forgotten him and deliberately turned its back on him. To such a world God gives his Son.
Christmas really is all about giving. That’s a hard thing to teach our children isn’t it, you tell them that and they think ‘Yeah Right! That’s just because you don’t get good presents!’ But Christmas is when we remember God giving his Son to a world utterly undeserving of such a gift, in fact deserving of exactly the opposite.
John picks this up again in 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Do you see the love and grace and goodness of God? Christmas is about true giving!
How do you know how God feels about you? Do you listen to TV programmes like the Simpsons and others which say you can judge how God feels about you based on how life is going. If things are going badly then God is angry with you if you are being blessed then God loves you. Don’t listen to that, listen to Isaiah – God loves you so much he sends his son into the world for you not because you were good or nice, but because you are or were in darkness and he wants to save you.
We are more wicked than we ever realised – we are in darkness, but we are more loved by God than we have ever dreamed – he sends his Son to save us. In Jesus God offers his Son to us, just like any present you are offered the question is will you accept him? Will you put your trust in him? Do you recognise that you live in darkness and need the light, that you make decisions but can’t seem to see clearly how and why you are making them? This Christmas God says accept the greatest gift I give to you.
We need to realise again the nature of the good news of the gospel, in Jesus God breaks into the world and starts overturning, driving out the darkness one life at a time. Creating communities of hope, beacons of light in the darkness where the presence of Jesus lives on by his Holy Spirit, a community that is called to light up the darkness.
It is why as Christians we love Christmas, its why we celebrate, its why we can never be bah humbug about Christmas. It is a reminder of our hope, our light coming into darkness, of salvation gifted to us by God in Jesus. And it points us to a day when the light will not only be in our hearts but when the sun will rise and sin and darkness flee away never to be seen again.
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
2 Corinthians 5:19 A Christmas Gift - Reconciliation
If someone asked you what Christmas is all about what would you say?
The song we sang with the children provided us with some answers people give; presents, Christmas tree, tinsel. I went to a Christmas Concert a couple of weeks ago which concluded Christmas was about being together; family and friendship.
In 2006 a survey asked “What does Christmas mean to you?” The answers can be grouped into five broad categories:
(Category Mentioned by(%))
Family, friends, children, partner, togetherness 66%
Holiday, a break 29%
Food, drink, over-indulgence 25%
Religious 14%
Stress, hassle, headache, expense, etc. 14%
But what would God say Christmas is all about? Have you ever thought about it like that?
2 Cor’s 5:19 tells us what God says Christmas is about, it can be summed up in a word: reconciliation. “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.”
Reconciliation means to restore the relationship between two parties by decisively dealing with the thing which caused the rupture in the relationship.
We often assume we are ok with God, because well I’m a nice person, I go to church, I’m a good parent, whatever... But notice the Bible assumes we aren’t ok with God. It says that by nature we need reconciliation, by nature our relationship with God is broken and we are his enemies.
Did you spot the things which broke our relationship with God? The thing that needs dealing with? “Sin”, not a list of do’s or don’ts that we’ve failed to keep but simply having a heart and mind which says I rule, I determine right and wrong for myself without reference to God.
That is what causes enmity between us and God what makes us enemies not friends. But that great news of Christmas is that God sends Jesus to end the enmity and Jesus willing comes to reconcile us to God.
Did you notice how he does it? He does not count peoples sin against them. It isn’t that God just sweeps it under the carpet, he can’t because he is just, rebellion against God must be punished. Look at (21)“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.”
The great news of Christmas is Jesus comes willingly to take our place, so that our sin is not counted against us but against him, and his perfect record, his righteousness, is counted as ours.
There is a grave stone in America that has these words on it “I want to stand where you’re standing”. It is a memorial from the American civil war. There was a firing squad about to do its duty when a 19 year old infantry man recognised one of the men to be executed. He put his musket down and approached his commanding officer. ‘Sir’, he said ‘I know this man, he has a wife and a young family. If we execute him we are condemning them to death too.’
That 19 year old went and stood in front of the man he had recognised, those words from his grave stone are the words he spoke “I want to stand where you’re standing” he took the blindfold off the man he recognised who went free and placing it on himself he stood in the firing line as his commanding officers command rang out; “fire”.
I want to stand where you’re standing – that is what Christmas is about, so that we can stand where Christ stands, so that we can know relationship with God.
The song we sang with the children provided us with some answers people give; presents, Christmas tree, tinsel. I went to a Christmas Concert a couple of weeks ago which concluded Christmas was about being together; family and friendship.
In 2006 a survey asked “What does Christmas mean to you?” The answers can be grouped into five broad categories:
(Category Mentioned by(%))
Family, friends, children, partner, togetherness 66%
Holiday, a break 29%
Food, drink, over-indulgence 25%
Religious 14%
Stress, hassle, headache, expense, etc. 14%
But what would God say Christmas is all about? Have you ever thought about it like that?
2 Cor’s 5:19 tells us what God says Christmas is about, it can be summed up in a word: reconciliation. “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.”
Reconciliation means to restore the relationship between two parties by decisively dealing with the thing which caused the rupture in the relationship.
We often assume we are ok with God, because well I’m a nice person, I go to church, I’m a good parent, whatever... But notice the Bible assumes we aren’t ok with God. It says that by nature we need reconciliation, by nature our relationship with God is broken and we are his enemies.
Did you spot the things which broke our relationship with God? The thing that needs dealing with? “Sin”, not a list of do’s or don’ts that we’ve failed to keep but simply having a heart and mind which says I rule, I determine right and wrong for myself without reference to God.
That is what causes enmity between us and God what makes us enemies not friends. But that great news of Christmas is that God sends Jesus to end the enmity and Jesus willing comes to reconcile us to God.
Did you notice how he does it? He does not count peoples sin against them. It isn’t that God just sweeps it under the carpet, he can’t because he is just, rebellion against God must be punished. Look at (21)“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.”
The great news of Christmas is Jesus comes willingly to take our place, so that our sin is not counted against us but against him, and his perfect record, his righteousness, is counted as ours.
There is a grave stone in America that has these words on it “I want to stand where you’re standing”. It is a memorial from the American civil war. There was a firing squad about to do its duty when a 19 year old infantry man recognised one of the men to be executed. He put his musket down and approached his commanding officer. ‘Sir’, he said ‘I know this man, he has a wife and a young family. If we execute him we are condemning them to death too.’
That 19 year old went and stood in front of the man he had recognised, those words from his grave stone are the words he spoke “I want to stand where you’re standing” he took the blindfold off the man he recognised who went free and placing it on himself he stood in the firing line as his commanding officers command rang out; “fire”.
I want to stand where you’re standing – that is what Christmas is about, so that we can stand where Christ stands, so that we can know relationship with God.
Monday, 20 December 2010
Matthew 1:18-25 A Strange way to provide a Saviour
5 days 12 hours and it will be Christmas day, of course you’d rather your children didn’t come bouncing in at midnight. The advent calendars, those exquisite mechanisms of torture for children visualise the waiting is nearly finished.
Someone said these words: "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for. If it is worth attaining, it is worth fighting for. If it is worth experiencing, it is worth putting aside time for."
We’re used to waiting; some things are worth the wait: your wedding day, the birth of your children, others maybe not: the iPhone 4, the latest box office release, any game Ipswich are involved in on TV.
I wonder if you spotted the people waiting in our reading. There’s Joseph, he’s betrothed to Mary, it’s not like our engagement to break it required a divorce. He’s been waiting for the wedding day when the bomb shell hits – Mary is pregnant. And his instant assumption isn’t that this is the son of God, his instant assumption is unfaithfulness, so he plans to divorce her quietly. All that waiting for nothing, or so he thinks until a spectacular intervention convinces him otherwise.
But Joseph isn’t the only one waiting. Israel had been waiting, if you’ve got a bible you’ll notice a long list of names(1-17) that stretches back centuries, all waiting. The question as Matthew opens his gospel is what have they been waiting for and has it been worth it?
We see what they have been waiting for in the two names given to Jesus as the angel reveals to Joseph that his waiting has been worth it because he has a part to play in the most important moment in history.
Waiting for forgiveness
How do you get forgiveness? When we’ve done something wrong we say sorry, we may follow it up, or accompany, the apology with a bunch of flowers or a meal. When Lucy and I had our first big argument she rang me to apologise and say she’d bought all the things for a romantic meal to apologise, but there was a problem, it was the play off semi-final. Later that evening the scene was set; romantic candlelit steak dinner, the background music not Celine Dionne or even John Secada, but Ipswich versus Sheffield United.
But what about if you have offended God?
You see that’s what Israel have been waiting for. Look at (21)what name is the son to be given? Jesus, why? “Because he will save his people from their sins.”
I wonder what you think of when you hear that word, sin. We tend to think of bad people – the man who stabbed the police officers this week, or the bomber in Sweden. But the angel doesn’t say Jesus has come for bad people but for all Israel, good and bad people, religious and irreligious. Because sin isn’t doing bad things it is simply saying no to God.
God as creator deserves to be listened to, he determines what is right and wrong, sin is when we dethrone God as ruler of our lives and decide we’ll decide right and wrong for ourselves. The by-product of sin is seen in a world in chaos, where Mr Assange decides it’s right for him to leak as many wiki documents as he likes, while governments decide it isn’t, where North Korea decides it’s right for them to fire on South Korea, where someone decides it’s right to strap explosives to themselves and detonate it in a busy street, where we each think we can determine right and wrong according to our own thinking.
It sets us on a collision course with others, but most importantly with God. God isn’t indifferent to our rebellion he cares passionately about it and will one day hold us accountable for it.
Jesus comes to save us from our sin, to deliver us from our greatest danger, judgement from God.
There are lots of ways we try to earn forgiveness from others; meals, flowers, being good, making it up to them, promising we’ll never do it again etc... But God’s forgiveness is a gift, he sends Jesus to save us because we can’t save ourselves, Jesus comes to pay the price for our rebellion against God and is judged guilty instead of us, and we’re given the gift of his perfect record. He comes to the cradle to go to the cross.
Are you still waiting for forgiveness? Do you feel guilty for things said or done? Can you see in your life how destructive determining right and wrong for yourself has been? Jesus is born so that we can be forgiven, don’t wait for forgiveness he has come so you can know forgiveness now.
Waiting for friendship
Have you ever had a wait that has ended in a surprise so much better than what you were waiting for? For my thirtieth birthday Lucy threw a surprise party. Normally I’d like to think I’m pretty good at picking up clues about what’s going on. But I was so clueless I hadn’t even changed out of the clothes I’d spent all day gardening in. That surprise was so much better than just another birthday.
Joseph in these verses experiences lows and highs, at the start he’s waiting expectantly for his wedding day, then he realises Mary is pregnant, then he’s told that this baby is “from the Holy Spirit”. It’s tempting to think how gullible Joseph was believing in a virgin birth – but if God exists, if he created the world in all its variety and incredibly finely tuned balance, well if God is God then a virgin birth is child’s play. You can imagine Joseph is a bit shell-shocked but there is more to come – not only will this baby end the wait for forgiveness but he will end the wait for people to know God.
Look at (23)the angel says Jesus will be called Immanuel; it means God with us. He’s not just a saviour, Jesus is God in flesh, this is what Isaiah promised hundreds of years earlier, it’s what Israel have been waiting for, what the world has been waiting for.
Sin separates us from God, but now in this baby God is coming to us. We can’t get to God so the almighty creator puts on his creation. Jesus is God made man; he feels hungry, thirsty, weeps, mourns at the death of a friend, gets angry, knows the burden of too much to do and not enough time to do it in.
And yet as God made man he heals the sick, casts out demons, walks on water, feeds thousands with one packed lunch, calms the storm and raises the dead. He is the creator walking among his creation, getting to know them, laughing with Peter and James and John, smiling at his friends fears, challenging them to faith, forgiving sin.
Jesus is God come to restore us to friendship with him.
Who is the most famous person you have ever met? What about the most famous person you count as a friend?
Matthew is saying something astonishing, in Jesus we don’t just know about God we can know God. He is God with us, not just when things are going well but all the time, he becomes someone you can talk to – that’s what prayer is, who you can listen to – that’s what the bible is for, and who you can trust in.
What are you waiting for this Christmas? The great news is that the waiting is over. We can be forgiven, but more than that we can know God, enter into a relationship with him because Jesus makes this possible.
What are you waiting for? Christmas reminds us the wait is over.
Someone said these words: "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for. If it is worth attaining, it is worth fighting for. If it is worth experiencing, it is worth putting aside time for."
We’re used to waiting; some things are worth the wait: your wedding day, the birth of your children, others maybe not: the iPhone 4, the latest box office release, any game Ipswich are involved in on TV.
I wonder if you spotted the people waiting in our reading. There’s Joseph, he’s betrothed to Mary, it’s not like our engagement to break it required a divorce. He’s been waiting for the wedding day when the bomb shell hits – Mary is pregnant. And his instant assumption isn’t that this is the son of God, his instant assumption is unfaithfulness, so he plans to divorce her quietly. All that waiting for nothing, or so he thinks until a spectacular intervention convinces him otherwise.
But Joseph isn’t the only one waiting. Israel had been waiting, if you’ve got a bible you’ll notice a long list of names(1-17) that stretches back centuries, all waiting. The question as Matthew opens his gospel is what have they been waiting for and has it been worth it?
We see what they have been waiting for in the two names given to Jesus as the angel reveals to Joseph that his waiting has been worth it because he has a part to play in the most important moment in history.
Waiting for forgiveness
How do you get forgiveness? When we’ve done something wrong we say sorry, we may follow it up, or accompany, the apology with a bunch of flowers or a meal. When Lucy and I had our first big argument she rang me to apologise and say she’d bought all the things for a romantic meal to apologise, but there was a problem, it was the play off semi-final. Later that evening the scene was set; romantic candlelit steak dinner, the background music not Celine Dionne or even John Secada, but Ipswich versus Sheffield United.
But what about if you have offended God?
You see that’s what Israel have been waiting for. Look at (21)what name is the son to be given? Jesus, why? “Because he will save his people from their sins.”
I wonder what you think of when you hear that word, sin. We tend to think of bad people – the man who stabbed the police officers this week, or the bomber in Sweden. But the angel doesn’t say Jesus has come for bad people but for all Israel, good and bad people, religious and irreligious. Because sin isn’t doing bad things it is simply saying no to God.
God as creator deserves to be listened to, he determines what is right and wrong, sin is when we dethrone God as ruler of our lives and decide we’ll decide right and wrong for ourselves. The by-product of sin is seen in a world in chaos, where Mr Assange decides it’s right for him to leak as many wiki documents as he likes, while governments decide it isn’t, where North Korea decides it’s right for them to fire on South Korea, where someone decides it’s right to strap explosives to themselves and detonate it in a busy street, where we each think we can determine right and wrong according to our own thinking.
It sets us on a collision course with others, but most importantly with God. God isn’t indifferent to our rebellion he cares passionately about it and will one day hold us accountable for it.
Jesus comes to save us from our sin, to deliver us from our greatest danger, judgement from God.
There are lots of ways we try to earn forgiveness from others; meals, flowers, being good, making it up to them, promising we’ll never do it again etc... But God’s forgiveness is a gift, he sends Jesus to save us because we can’t save ourselves, Jesus comes to pay the price for our rebellion against God and is judged guilty instead of us, and we’re given the gift of his perfect record. He comes to the cradle to go to the cross.
Are you still waiting for forgiveness? Do you feel guilty for things said or done? Can you see in your life how destructive determining right and wrong for yourself has been? Jesus is born so that we can be forgiven, don’t wait for forgiveness he has come so you can know forgiveness now.
Waiting for friendship
Have you ever had a wait that has ended in a surprise so much better than what you were waiting for? For my thirtieth birthday Lucy threw a surprise party. Normally I’d like to think I’m pretty good at picking up clues about what’s going on. But I was so clueless I hadn’t even changed out of the clothes I’d spent all day gardening in. That surprise was so much better than just another birthday.
Joseph in these verses experiences lows and highs, at the start he’s waiting expectantly for his wedding day, then he realises Mary is pregnant, then he’s told that this baby is “from the Holy Spirit”. It’s tempting to think how gullible Joseph was believing in a virgin birth – but if God exists, if he created the world in all its variety and incredibly finely tuned balance, well if God is God then a virgin birth is child’s play. You can imagine Joseph is a bit shell-shocked but there is more to come – not only will this baby end the wait for forgiveness but he will end the wait for people to know God.
Look at (23)the angel says Jesus will be called Immanuel; it means God with us. He’s not just a saviour, Jesus is God in flesh, this is what Isaiah promised hundreds of years earlier, it’s what Israel have been waiting for, what the world has been waiting for.
Sin separates us from God, but now in this baby God is coming to us. We can’t get to God so the almighty creator puts on his creation. Jesus is God made man; he feels hungry, thirsty, weeps, mourns at the death of a friend, gets angry, knows the burden of too much to do and not enough time to do it in.
And yet as God made man he heals the sick, casts out demons, walks on water, feeds thousands with one packed lunch, calms the storm and raises the dead. He is the creator walking among his creation, getting to know them, laughing with Peter and James and John, smiling at his friends fears, challenging them to faith, forgiving sin.
Jesus is God come to restore us to friendship with him.
Who is the most famous person you have ever met? What about the most famous person you count as a friend?
Matthew is saying something astonishing, in Jesus we don’t just know about God we can know God. He is God with us, not just when things are going well but all the time, he becomes someone you can talk to – that’s what prayer is, who you can listen to – that’s what the bible is for, and who you can trust in.
What are you waiting for this Christmas? The great news is that the waiting is over. We can be forgiven, but more than that we can know God, enter into a relationship with him because Jesus makes this possible.
What are you waiting for? Christmas reminds us the wait is over.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
A Christmas Innovation
Sometimes something new comes along which is so innovative that it captures peoples imaginations. That’s certainly the case with the must have Christmas presents of the last few years. Here’s the top 5 from a few years ago:
1. Nintendo Wii
2. Apple ipod Shuffle
3. Wii accessories
4. ipod Nano
5. No7 Protect and Perfect Serum
Each of those products are innovative in their own way and in their own field, each has been invented in response to a problem, as a way of overcoming that problem.
So take the Wii the problem confronting Nintendo was how to break the strangle hold of the Xbox and Playstation. Their innovation was to make a games console for non-game players, no longer just for boys and young men but one that could be played on by the elderly the young and by ladies. And they did it, so much so that some old peoples homes are now using them with their residents as a means of staying active.
Then there’s the ipod – Apples problem was how to create a small hard drive media ready player. Their innovation has become THE mp3 player to have and done away with the Discman and Walkman.
And then there is the new No7 Protect and Perfect Beauty Serum, an anti-ageing cream that is innovative because it actually works. An old idea but an innovative product, over coming an age old problem.
Innovation for the human race never stops, next year there will be new innovative solutions to current problems.
The verses we have had read to us this evening are also all about innovation. In fact Christmas is about innovation – a way to overcome a problem.
Isaiah talks about the problem in terms of people being in darkness, and Luke in terms of a broken relationship. To put it simply the problem is that whilst we want everything God give us, we don’t want the God who made it. In fact the Bible tells us that is why the world is so dislocated, why there is depression, despair, suffering, injustice – in short the darkness Isaiah describes, because we reject God who made the world.
That problem is serious and the solution that God comes up with is innovative, if we can’t make ourselves right with him, then he will take the initiative. That is what Christmas is all about God’s initiative and God’s innovation.
The solution is in the baby the Shepherds go to see – one who is described as a saviour, or a deliverer, one who Luke tells us comes to bring peace – not the absence of war but a restored relationship with God.
That is an innovation worth celebrating, God sends his son because the problem is serious, he sends his son because sin must be paid for, and because he loves us so much he wants us to be in a right relationship with him.
1. Nintendo Wii
2. Apple ipod Shuffle
3. Wii accessories
4. ipod Nano
5. No7 Protect and Perfect Serum
Each of those products are innovative in their own way and in their own field, each has been invented in response to a problem, as a way of overcoming that problem.
So take the Wii the problem confronting Nintendo was how to break the strangle hold of the Xbox and Playstation. Their innovation was to make a games console for non-game players, no longer just for boys and young men but one that could be played on by the elderly the young and by ladies. And they did it, so much so that some old peoples homes are now using them with their residents as a means of staying active.
Then there’s the ipod – Apples problem was how to create a small hard drive media ready player. Their innovation has become THE mp3 player to have and done away with the Discman and Walkman.
And then there is the new No7 Protect and Perfect Beauty Serum, an anti-ageing cream that is innovative because it actually works. An old idea but an innovative product, over coming an age old problem.
Innovation for the human race never stops, next year there will be new innovative solutions to current problems.
The verses we have had read to us this evening are also all about innovation. In fact Christmas is about innovation – a way to overcome a problem.
Isaiah talks about the problem in terms of people being in darkness, and Luke in terms of a broken relationship. To put it simply the problem is that whilst we want everything God give us, we don’t want the God who made it. In fact the Bible tells us that is why the world is so dislocated, why there is depression, despair, suffering, injustice – in short the darkness Isaiah describes, because we reject God who made the world.
That problem is serious and the solution that God comes up with is innovative, if we can’t make ourselves right with him, then he will take the initiative. That is what Christmas is all about God’s initiative and God’s innovation.
The solution is in the baby the Shepherds go to see – one who is described as a saviour, or a deliverer, one who Luke tells us comes to bring peace – not the absence of war but a restored relationship with God.
That is an innovation worth celebrating, God sends his son because the problem is serious, he sends his son because sin must be paid for, and because he loves us so much he wants us to be in a right relationship with him.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
What's in a Christmas Carol?
In 2005 Songs of Praise listed the following as the nations favourite Christmas carols:
Once in Royal David's City
Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander was a country schoolmistress. She wrote the carol to help her pupils understand the mystery of the birth of Jesus and her intenion was that it would not just be a Christmas Song but be used throughtout the year. It was put together with Henry Gauntlett's simple tune Irby and has become exactly what she didn't want a Christmas Carol.
O Come All ye Faithful
The original version was written in Latin and is commonly attributed to John Francis Wade, and is thought to have been written around about 1743. It was translated into the more familiar English version a century later by Frederick Oakeley and William Thomas Brooke.
Calypso Carol
Was written by Canon Michael Perry whilst he was a student at Oak Hill Theological College.
See Amid the Winter's Snow
This carol is one of my favourites though I don't think itwoudl have been amid snow that Jesus was born, it was written by Edward Caswall in 1858. The music Humility was written by John Goss in 1871.
O Holy Night
This carol began life as the French poem Minuit, chrétiens written by Placide Cappeau in 1847. It was translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight. The music was composed by Adolphe-Charles Adam, who also wrote the ballet Giselle.
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
This carol was originally a poem, written in 1849 by Edmund Hamilton Sears, a Unitarian parish minister and author. The music was composd by American musician Richard Storrs Willis in 1850.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
The words were written by an American clergyman called Philips Brooks in 1868 following a visit to Bethlehem. His organist, Lewis Redner, wrote a tune for it which is still used in the United States. In the UK, Forest Green, which was adapted by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, is used instead.
In the Bleak Mid-winter
Christina Rossetti originally wrote this carol as a Christmas poem. The tune most often associated with In the Bleak Midwinter is Cranham, composed by Gustav Holst, but it has also been put to music by organist Harold Edwin Darke.
Silent Night
Silent Night is one of the world's most popular Christmas carols. The original lyrics of Stille Nicht were written by Father Joseph Mohr, in 1859 the English translation was published.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Charles Wesley wrote this carol in 1739. We sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing to a famous tune by Felix Mendelssohn, written in 1840.
Once in Royal David's City
Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander was a country schoolmistress. She wrote the carol to help her pupils understand the mystery of the birth of Jesus and her intenion was that it would not just be a Christmas Song but be used throughtout the year. It was put together with Henry Gauntlett's simple tune Irby and has become exactly what she didn't want a Christmas Carol.
O Come All ye Faithful
The original version was written in Latin and is commonly attributed to John Francis Wade, and is thought to have been written around about 1743. It was translated into the more familiar English version a century later by Frederick Oakeley and William Thomas Brooke.
Calypso Carol
Was written by Canon Michael Perry whilst he was a student at Oak Hill Theological College.
See Amid the Winter's Snow
This carol is one of my favourites though I don't think itwoudl have been amid snow that Jesus was born, it was written by Edward Caswall in 1858. The music Humility was written by John Goss in 1871.
O Holy Night
This carol began life as the French poem Minuit, chrétiens written by Placide Cappeau in 1847. It was translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight. The music was composed by Adolphe-Charles Adam, who also wrote the ballet Giselle.
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
This carol was originally a poem, written in 1849 by Edmund Hamilton Sears, a Unitarian parish minister and author. The music was composd by American musician Richard Storrs Willis in 1850.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
The words were written by an American clergyman called Philips Brooks in 1868 following a visit to Bethlehem. His organist, Lewis Redner, wrote a tune for it which is still used in the United States. In the UK, Forest Green, which was adapted by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, is used instead.
In the Bleak Mid-winter
Christina Rossetti originally wrote this carol as a Christmas poem. The tune most often associated with In the Bleak Midwinter is Cranham, composed by Gustav Holst, but it has also been put to music by organist Harold Edwin Darke.
Silent Night
Silent Night is one of the world's most popular Christmas carols. The original lyrics of Stille Nicht were written by Father Joseph Mohr, in 1859 the English translation was published.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Charles Wesley wrote this carol in 1739. We sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing to a famous tune by Felix Mendelssohn, written in 1840.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
The Three Trees
This is one of those stories that I read with my children and love.
Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.
The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: "I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I'll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!".
The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean. "I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I'll be the strongest ship in the world!".
The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. "I don't want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me, they'll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world."
Years passed. The rain came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain.
The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell. "Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest, I shall hold wonderful treasure!", the first tree said.
The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters!" thought the second tree. "I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!"
The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the woodcutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me" he muttered. With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.
The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought her to a carpenter's shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feedbox for the animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, and not filled with treasure. She was coated with saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.
The second tree smiled when the woodcuter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead the once strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail to an ocean, or even a river, instead she was taken to a little lake.
The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" the once tall tree wondered. "All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God..."
Many many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams.
But, one night, a golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feedbox. "I wish I could make a cradle for him.", her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. "This manger is beautiful." she said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.
One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She knew that she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through with the wind and the rain. The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the King of heaven and earth.
One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hands to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel.
But, on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. It had made the third tree strong. And everytime people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.
Author: Unknown
Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.
The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: "I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I'll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!".
The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean. "I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I'll be the strongest ship in the world!".
The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. "I don't want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me, they'll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world."
Years passed. The rain came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain.
The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell. "Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest, I shall hold wonderful treasure!", the first tree said.
The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters!" thought the second tree. "I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!"
The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the woodcutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me" he muttered. With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.
The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought her to a carpenter's shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feedbox for the animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, and not filled with treasure. She was coated with saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.
The second tree smiled when the woodcuter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead the once strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail to an ocean, or even a river, instead she was taken to a little lake.
The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" the once tall tree wondered. "All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God..."
Many many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams.
But, one night, a golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feedbox. "I wish I could make a cradle for him.", her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. "This manger is beautiful." she said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.
One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She knew that she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through with the wind and the rain. The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the King of heaven and earth.
One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hands to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel.
But, on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. It had made the third tree strong. And everytime people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.
Author: Unknown
Monday, 22 December 2008
worship at Christmas
What would you say you worship? We all worship – we all have something that gives us significance and that matters intensely to us.
Luke ch2 gives us a picture of just that in Augustus Caesar (1). What is Caesar doing? He is carrying out a census of his empire. Why? Because he wants to know how great he is, in fact my hunch is that he wanted it recorded so that he made his mark in history. Do you see what gave Caesar significance it was his empire, how many lands he had conquered, who he ruled over, the extent of his power.
You see it again in Matthew with Herod – why does he kill all the infant boys in Bethlehem because his rule, his reign, mattered more than anything else.
How about us, what gives us significance? Maybe it’s a relationship, or family, or career, or money, or things. We may think they give us significance but ultimately each of those things will leave us dissatisfied – if we centre our life on relationships we will be jealous, emotionally dependent and manipulative, unable to take even perceived criticism. If we centre our life on family we will try to live our life through theirs and what happens when they grow up and leave? If we centre our life and identity on work and career we will be workaholics and what happens to our sense of worth if we lose our job, if we centre our life on money and possessions we’ll never be content and end up envious of others and bitter because you can’t take it with you. If you centre your life on religion and doing good you will end up judgemental and proud.
I wonder what you think sin is. Most people think sin is breaking the Ten Commandments, or any other commandments, it is doing bad things, or not doing good things. But actually sin is more than that, it is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose and happiness than your relationship with God. In fact the 10 commandments start out with that very idea “You shall have no other gods before me’. Sin is failing to live rightly relating to God.
Christmas is about God in his Son telling us we worship wrongly, how to worship rightly and living a life of perfect worship in our place.
Luke ch2 gives us a picture of just that in Augustus Caesar (1). What is Caesar doing? He is carrying out a census of his empire. Why? Because he wants to know how great he is, in fact my hunch is that he wanted it recorded so that he made his mark in history. Do you see what gave Caesar significance it was his empire, how many lands he had conquered, who he ruled over, the extent of his power.
You see it again in Matthew with Herod – why does he kill all the infant boys in Bethlehem because his rule, his reign, mattered more than anything else.
How about us, what gives us significance? Maybe it’s a relationship, or family, or career, or money, or things. We may think they give us significance but ultimately each of those things will leave us dissatisfied – if we centre our life on relationships we will be jealous, emotionally dependent and manipulative, unable to take even perceived criticism. If we centre our life on family we will try to live our life through theirs and what happens when they grow up and leave? If we centre our life and identity on work and career we will be workaholics and what happens to our sense of worth if we lose our job, if we centre our life on money and possessions we’ll never be content and end up envious of others and bitter because you can’t take it with you. If you centre your life on religion and doing good you will end up judgemental and proud.
I wonder what you think sin is. Most people think sin is breaking the Ten Commandments, or any other commandments, it is doing bad things, or not doing good things. But actually sin is more than that, it is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose and happiness than your relationship with God. In fact the 10 commandments start out with that very idea “You shall have no other gods before me’. Sin is failing to live rightly relating to God.
Christmas is about God in his Son telling us we worship wrongly, how to worship rightly and living a life of perfect worship in our place.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Christmas - its not about us
If you had to come up with a slogan to sum up the society we live what would it be? Perhaps L’Oreal have come closest with ‘Because you’re worthy it!’ That sentiment; you deserve it, you matter, is actually behind most advertising.
I was listening to a radio show when someone said they loved Christmas because it was the one time of the year when we think about others. It made me think – is that true? Is L’Oreal’s slogan turned on its head for a couple of weeks at Christmas? I have to say I’m not convinced about that.
There is a danger that we can carry the 'because I’m worth it' idea over into our reading of the Christmas story. Why did Jesus come – because I’m worth it! Actually yes Jesus is important but actually it’s all about us we can think. But you notice as you read through Luke 1 and 2 that man is almost missing. The real focus is on God.
I was listening to a radio show when someone said they loved Christmas because it was the one time of the year when we think about others. It made me think – is that true? Is L’Oreal’s slogan turned on its head for a couple of weeks at Christmas? I have to say I’m not convinced about that.
There is a danger that we can carry the 'because I’m worth it' idea over into our reading of the Christmas story. Why did Jesus come – because I’m worth it! Actually yes Jesus is important but actually it’s all about us we can think. But you notice as you read through Luke 1 and 2 that man is almost missing. The real focus is on God.
Monday, 15 December 2008
What is Christmas all about
St Helen's Bishopsgate have produced this excellent video about what Christmas really is:
Friday, 12 December 2008
Christmas is about God's glory
Re-reading Luke 2 in preparation for next Sunday I couldn't help but be struck by something I'd missed before. The chapter opens as if it is all about Augustus Caesar's glory when actually the chapter is overwhelmingly overtaken by God's glory. The events of Christ's coming are first and foremost about God being glorified by Zechariah and Elizabeth then the angels then the shepherds and final by Simeon and Anna. It poses a question do we think of Christmas too much as being about us? Even in Christian circles the focus is often on what God has come to do for us in sending Jesus. What he actually does is send his son so that he gets the glory he is due from his people who are refusing to give it to him.
Christmas is overwhelmingly about God being glorified will we make it the same?
Christmas is overwhelmingly about God being glorified will we make it the same?
Stocking fillers
Here are some great books that would make good stocking fillers:
And now let's move into a time of nonsense, Nick Page
Created for Worship, Noel Due
Experiencing the Spirit, Graham Beynon
Foxes Book of Martyrs
Jesus @ Work, Graham Beynon
Knowing God, J I Packer
The Because Approach, Andrew Baughen
The Busy Christians Guide to Busyness, Tim Chester
Total Church, Steve Timmis and Tim Chester
And now let's move into a time of nonsense, Nick Page
Created for Worship, Noel Due
Experiencing the Spirit, Graham Beynon
Foxes Book of Martyrs
Jesus @ Work, Graham Beynon
Knowing God, J I Packer
The Because Approach, Andrew Baughen
The Busy Christians Guide to Busyness, Tim Chester
The Deliberate Church, Mark Dever
The Goldsworthy Trilogy, Graham Goldsworthy
The Radical Reformission, Mark Driscoll
The Reason for God, Tim KellerThe Word Became Fresh, Dale Ralph Davis
Total Church, Steve Timmis and Tim Chester
Monday, 24 December 2007
Scrooge
Sometimes I think that the media perceive Christians as almost resenting Christmas, as if we don't want anyone to enjoy themselves, that all we should do is sit and contemplate. Actually the thing that marks out the first Christmas, Jesus birth, is marked with joyful celebration. In Luke 1 Zechariah and Elizabeth are overjoyed at the news they are to have a son, the Angels joyfully celebrate God's coming of salvation in Luke 2, the shepherds return glorifying and praising God, in other words celebrating because salvation has come.
Celebration and joy are stamped all over the first Christmas and they should be over ours too. As Christians we have more reason to celebrate than anyone else, our salvation is what we are remembering. That God brought his eternal plan to fulfilment as he sent his son, enfleshed in weak humanity, to identify with us in every way but without sin, to live a perfect life of obedience to God on our behalf and then to take our place as our substitute on the cross. To exhaust God's righteous anger against us before rising again as a guarantee that death was conquered and to ascend leaving us his spirit that we may become more like him.
I defy any Christian not to celebrate with that in mind this Christmas!
Celebration and joy are stamped all over the first Christmas and they should be over ours too. As Christians we have more reason to celebrate than anyone else, our salvation is what we are remembering. That God brought his eternal plan to fulfilment as he sent his son, enfleshed in weak humanity, to identify with us in every way but without sin, to live a perfect life of obedience to God on our behalf and then to take our place as our substitute on the cross. To exhaust God's righteous anger against us before rising again as a guarantee that death was conquered and to ascend leaving us his spirit that we may become more like him.
I defy any Christian not to celebrate with that in mind this Christmas!
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