God What
really matters about Christmas? What
really matters about Christmas? Some
years ago, when a Bishop’s doubts about the virgin
birth of Jesus hit the headlines, a clergyman was
interviewed on the BBC's ‘Breakfast Time’
programme about what it all meant. The interviewer, a
well known TV personality with very little time for
Christianity, had one great objection to what the Bishop
was saying. He put it in the form of a question to the
clergyman: "If Jesus wasn't born to the virgin Mary
does that mean we'll have to stop sending Christmas cards
and giving presents?" It
might sound a stupid question, but it actually highlights
an important issue. For this BBC presenter, as for many
others in In
fact if Jesus hadn't been born as the Bible says the
implications would be much more serious. It would mean
that God has not come into this world to put right what
we have spoilt. It would mean that we have no way of
getting to know God. It would mean that we have no chance
of anything but judgment and condemnation when we die. Christmas
is worth celebrating, not as an excuse for cards or
presents or holidays, but because Christmas assures us
that God hasn't written us off - that he loves us and has
a plan for us. At Good Friday and Easter we see that
Jesus has dealt with our twin problems of sin and death.
At Pentecost we find that the new life achieved by Jesus
can be ours as well. Is
Christmas important to you? If so, why? Just for the
trappings of cards, presents and holidays, or for what it
really means? May
this Christmas be a time when you receive the gift that
matters: God's Son as your Saviour. What’s
so ‘happy’ about Christmas? Many
people won't have a happy Christmas this year. And they
are not just the famine victims and the hurricane victims
and the earthquake victims and refugees in far-off
countries, or those who sleep rough in most British
cities and towns, or even people who ‘live’ in
hostels or bed-and-breakfast accommodation. These unhappy
people will include many ‘ordinary’ English
people who have enough food and a roof over their heads. Traditionally
there have been strong pressures on us all to enjoy
Christmas as a family occasion. Over recent years it has
become more of a television time. This is rapidly
altering Christmas-time in our pleasure-seeking society
into a party opportunity. But those without families, or
with family pains and pressures, or with recent
bereavement, can find Christmas one of the worst times of
year. Many
are realising the emptiness of television (Christmas
viewing figures keep falling, even including satellite
and cable channels). And those who cannot cope with
parties and bonhomie feel left out and lonely. Isn't
it time that we re-evaluated how to celebrate, how to
enjoy ourselves? No one is against families or parties,
and television brings us real benefits. This is not even
a plea to put Jesus Christ or religion back into
Christmas (though a trip to church and a reading of the
opening chapters of Luke's Gospel wouldn't do any harm).
It is simply that many of our ways of enjoying ourselves
are actually destructive, bringing about more misery than
happiness. What
we often end up doing is worshipping the god of family or
television or food or alcohol or sex. All these things
are right and good in their place. All have a real part
to play in most of our lives. But when we elevate any of
them to the highest position then we experience a few
days of selfish over-indulgence, followed by a time of
miserable recovery, then an increased sense of emptiness
and pointlessness as life begins again after the New Year. Why
not get our priorities right? Learn to spend time in
God's presence. Learn to receive his love and forgiveness.
Learn to accept others as he accepts us. Learn to make
our whole lives, not just Christmas, celebrations of
love, goodness and generosity. Sermon
Notebook ‘People Like Us’ The
Magi: Matthew 2: 1-12 The
visit of the magi to Jesus is often presented as a cosy
story of three oriental kings with gifts for a baby in a
stable! As Matthew says nothing about a stable or kings,
how does he want us to understand this story? The
Star In
the ancient world it was commonly accepted that when an
important event took place on earth it would be reflected
in the heavens. As they also accepted that God
communicated through stars and planets, their interest in
the ‘star in the east’ (2) is not surprising.
In fact, it was probably a conjunction of Jupiter (a
royal planet) and Saturn (representing the Jews) in 7 BC. How
should we view astrology today? The
Magi The
Magi were astrologers from what we know today as Where
do we find ‘seekers’ after Jesus today? The
Child At
the time there was a universal expectation of a new ruler
appearing on the world stage. Therefore, their search for
the ‘king of the Jews’ was as much political as
spiritual. No wonder that Herod took the news so badly!
Jesus was not just born king of the Jews, but as a
universal ruler who would bring God’s justice and
peace to the whole world. In
what ways can we give Jesus our worship this Christmas? The
Magi’s gifts remind us that the man born to be king
is also the man born to die. And so the soldiers at the
cross are the first Gentiles following the Magi to call
Jesus ‘king of the Jews’ (27:29). Getting
ready for Christmas The
Rev Peter Barratt finds women are better prepared for
Christmas than men. Four
men were talking on 23rd December last year, and
discovered that none of them had yet bought anything for
their wives for Christmas. All intended to shine up their
credit cards and go that afternoon, or the next day (Christmas
Eve!) into the town centre. Three of them had no idea
even at that stage what they were going to buy. On
the other hand, their wives had posted all their cards
and bought all their presents by mid-November, though
they still had lists of other things to be done before
THE DAY. Have
you ever thought of the preparations that God himself
made for the coming of Jesus? The Bible tells us that
“when the time had fully come, God sent forth his
Son. . .” When he had got everything ready, in other
words. “Everything – like what?” you may
say. Well,
for one thing, the TIME of his coming. The history of the
If
they could stand the long sea journey they could go from
Joppa (Tel Aviv) to any port in the Med. or all the way
to Travel
throughout the Even
more significant was the preparation of the Jewish
nation, their scriptures, their culture, and their
informed expectation, which had begun with God’s
choice of Abraham around 2000 years before. You
think you have a lot to do before 25th? From
White House To Log Cabin – That’s What Jesus
Did James
A Garfield was the 20th President of the James
went to school at the age of three and went on to an
Academy when he was 18. He was a diligent student who
went on to That,
in one short paragraph, is a summary biography of James A
Garfield. The full story is told by William Thayer in his
book, From Log Cabin to White House. It is a famous
biography of the fatherless boy who went on from humble
beginnings to hold the highest office in the At
this Christmas season here is a familiar story that’s
entitled From White House to Log Cabin. It is the story
of Jesus Christ. Forever with the Father in eternal
glory, he left it all and entered our world in a cattle
shed in In
the moving words of George MacDonald, the Christmas story
is about ‘a little baby thing that made a woman cry.’
But that baby was God incarnate. He split the whole of
human history with his coming so that now we speak of BC
and AD. He exchanged the glory of heaven for a manger, a
cross and finally an empty tomb. His biography is indeed
– from White House to Log Cabin. He became poor to
make many rich! He embraced death to give us life! He
left heaven to take us back there with him! At this
glorious Advent time, let us worship the incarnate
Saviour. Charles Wesley put it so well. Born
that man no more may die By Dr
Herbert McGonigle, Senior Lecturer in Historical Theology
& Church History, Nazarene Theological College, Praying
with the Prayers of the Bible The
prayer for mercy and grace; Hebrews 4:16. ‘Let us
then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time
of need.’ It is
appropriate that this series on the prayers of the Bible
should finish with this prayer. It is a prayer for mercy
and grace and we are always in need of both! Throughout
this letter to the Hebrew Christians, there are many
invitations and encouragements to pray. In this passage
we are exhorted to ‘come boldly’ and we also
have, ‘we draw near to God’ (7:19); ‘those
who draw near to God’ (7:25); ‘the way into the
holiest’ (9:8); ‘the new and living way’ (10:20);
‘let us draw near’ (10:22); ‘whoever would
draw near to God’ (11:6). We should study each of
these expressions carefully for they all emphasise what
glorious privileges we have to come into the presence of
God. This
prayer in chapter four begins with great encouragement.
We are to come to God ‘with confidence.’ All
through the Bible we have the Lord seeking his people and
wanting fellowship with them. God really wants us to come
to him with our praises and our prayers! The
reason for this confidence is given in v.14. The ascended
Lord Jesus is our ‘great High Priest’ who has
gone into heaven on our behalf. He sympathises ‘with
our weaknesses’ for he too was tested and tempted
but remained sinless (v.15). Because Jesus is praying for
us, we have confidence to come to God in prayer. When
we do ‘draw near’ to God in worship, praise and
prayer, we receive mercy and grace. What a promise is
this! We are always in need of mercy for we are
constantly tempted, and, as Jeremiah said, were it not
for the Lord’s mercies, we would be consumed (Lam. But
that is not all. The verse also promises that when we
draw near to God he gives us grace. Grace! What a word it
is! It is truly one of the great words of the Bible! Who
can define grace? Who can describe grace? Who can explain
grace? It means God’s gracious and all-sufficient
provision for all our needs. When God promises to give us
grace, he is promising to give us his love, his
forgiveness, his healing, his presence, his tender
compassion. Amazing grace indeed! And God promises it to
us today, and tomorrow and every day of our pilgrimage!
So let us every day ‘draw near to God’ in
prayer. Dr
Herbert McGonigle, Senior Lecturer in Historical Theology
& Church History, Nazarene Theological College, A
good Christmas present for your extended family If
you have a lot of relatives, and struggle each Christmas
to buy presents for them all, why not try the following
instead? Agree
that instead of buying each other presents, you’ll
set aside a day, or an evening, or whatever, and spend
that time with each other. Spend some money to go on an
outing – enjoy a concert or a play or even just a
walk together. Enjoy the pleasure of one another’s
company, a shared joy, and something worthwhile to
remember. Make yourselves your Christmas presents to each
other. But
what can we give to our God who already has everything?
The shepherds in Luke 2 must have wondered what they
should take as they hurried to the Saviour’s
birthplace. At that time all that the Baby Jesus needed
was praise, worship and company. When they saw the Holy
Child, they made known that the angels had advised them
to come, v17. At
Christmas time, we’re invited to God’s house.
There, within reach of all of us, is the finest Christmas
present we can share, Jesus himself. Questions
And Answers: Should We Pray To Mary? Mary
gets a lot of attention at this time of year. So is it
valid to address – and pray to – Mary, as the
Mother of God? Perhaps
it is not too surprising that the high regard in which
Mary, the mother of Jesus, has always been held, has
sometimes caused people to move from esteem to reverence,
and from reverence even to prayer and worship. But
the Gospel writers are very careful over Mary. Great
restraint is exercised in their references to her. It was
possible during Luke’s travels with the apostle
Paul, that she confided to the writer of the third Gospel
some of the facts surrounding the birth of Jesus. Is
she to be placed on the level of someone to whom people
can turn in prayer – perhaps in hope that she would
put in a word on their behalf to Christ, to whom she was
so close? Let me suggest three reasons that should
discourage us from doing so:- 1.
Praying to Mary contravenes the example of the apostles The
New Testament is teeming with the prayers of God’s
inspired leaders. In none of them does Mary feature at
all. Recall how the apostle Paul prays for his friends at
2.
Praying to Mary contradicts the attitude of Mary herself Why
was Mary selected to be the mother of Jesus? We can
readily point to her modesty, her sense of dependence
upon the Lord, her obedience and her discretion. On one
of the few occasions that her words are recorded, she
referred to herself as God’s handmaiden or ‘servant’.
Far from being associated with God’s saving actions,
Mary identifies with the rest of needy humanity in her
words, ‘...and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’
(Luke Although
‘highly favoured’ and destined to be called
‘blessed’ by future generations (Luke 1:28,48),
what we know of Mary’s character indicates that she
would have recoiled from any such extravagant title as
‘Mother of God’, or any description of her
beyond those accorded her in the Scriptures. 3.
Praying to Mary undermines the truth of the Incarnation. The
whole point of God taking our form and living among us
was that in Jesus Christ we were given that vital flesh
and blood Mediator between God and humanity. None other
is needed. Christ is someone we can go to directly, in
the knowledge that through him we have a hearing at the
very throne of God (Hebrews We
can agree with Article 22 of the Church of England, where
prayers to the saints are set aside as something that is
grounded upon no warranty of Scripture. Discipleship
in a small planet When
God in Christ entered his own creation, he was
underlining the covenant made with Noah in Genesis 8 and
9. An ecological covenant, that gave humankind God’s
blessing to enjoy the fruits of the earth, but laid a
responsibility on us all to take care of this planet. In
the past half-century we have seen an energy crisis, the
effects of global warming, the burgeoning of debt and the
onset of terrorism as factors which seem almost to be
spinning out of control. Yet as Christians we worship a
God to whom we pray for our daily bread and our well-being. And
in February the General Synod called upon the Church of
England’s members to make “care for creation,
and repentance for its exploitation” fundamental to
“their faith, practice and mission”. Repentance
means a change of direction, and an important part of the
way we follow Christ will emerge from the decisions we
take about the future of our planet. Such
a change of direction will not only involve individual
lifestyles, but the way we do things at corporate and
global levels too. Economics, which is another word for
‘housekeeping’, will become as much a part of
our discipleship as matters we now regard as essentials
of faith. All
this is part of our worship which, as we saw last month,
extends far beyond the ceremonies of the Church and into
the things in life to which we assign worth and value.
Yet the very idea of worship is strange to many people
and many in church find it a difficult idea to handle. So in
the coming months we shall look further at worship. What
does it mean, where do we find it, how do we play our
part and contribute to it? And who do we worship? |