Dear Congregation and friends,
Tomorrow is Christmas – let us worship the Lord!
Christmas means lots of different things to different people – and not all religious. For many it means family, getting together with family and friends, reminding themselves of the priority of relationships and the priority of love, care and generosity within relationships, celebrating and trying to enjoy those relationships. And there are certainly layers to Christmas today that highlight this as well as things that really have nothing to do with it.
I think they are missing the point, but I get it. They do not think of Jesus the rest of the year either. What they miss is that though they say they celebrate Christmas it is a re-engineered Christmas, a Christmas of their own making, not the Christmas that is.
But for us who know the Christ who was born it is not family (though this is a precious time we want to share with family as we are able), it is not presents (though we love to share and receive gifts of love in correspondence to the generosity of our God), it is not even the Day (which is unlikely to be this day) – no, it is the Lord Himself, the eternal Word who is and yet in time became flesh (as we read in John 1:1-3 and 14), one of us, one with us, one for us, so that we would be one with Him, and that forever.
It is good to ponder the gospel message of Christmas, to sing the Carols of Christmas, to encourage one another with the glory of our Saviour and like the shepherds to stir up one another in the wonder of discover and encounter – “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” May we know something of their wonder as we look afresh at the One who was born to eb our Saviour and King. Let us pray and seek opportunities across the day so that others may know it too.
On behalf of Lesley and myself, may we wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Christmas filled with the joy of the Lord.
Together with you in Christ’s service,
John Your Pastor