Christmas all year...

A farmer went to see his bank manager one day and said that he had bad news and good news. "First, the bad news...""Well," said the farmer, "I can't make my mortgage payments. And that loan I've taken out for the past 10 years - I can't pay that off, either. Not only that, I won't be able to pay you the money I still have outstanding on my tractors and other equipment.

So I'm going to have to give up the farm and turn it all over to you for whatever you can salvage out of it."

Silence prevailed for a minute and then the bank manager said, "What's the good news?" "The good news is that I'm going to keep on banking with you," said the farmer.

In the church calendar we continue today to celebrate the Christmas season and that is a reminder that God continues to put his faith in us regardless of the bad news that we seem to give him from time to time.

Admittedly the new year sales have started, some decorations are down, some people have been back to work and some of the presents have been put away, but in church we continue the Christmas celebrations and in our lives it’s right that we should continue those celebrations always.

Charles Dickens famously wrote the words of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

Today we heard in the gospel reading (Luke 2:15-21) about the shepherds after the angel had appeared to them… They went quickly to Bethlehem to see what was happening and they found Mary and Joseph and Jesus, and immediately their lives were changed – the birth of Jesus was good and life changing news for them.

And while we celebrate Christmas we so often look it as a ‘one off’ festival in the year – a time to do special things, but think about those shepherds whose lives were changed by the sight of Jesus – they went about telling people what they had seen and heard and they glorified God, and whilst I’m sure they went back to work, I don’t think their lives would ever be the same again…

Our other readings today also remind us of the importance of recognising and celebrating Christmas day by day because the birth of Jesus has, as the prophet Isaiah said (61:10-62:3), ‘clothed us with the garments of salvation’ – the birth of Jesus has made a life changing difference to us all…

And Paul, in his letter to the Galatians (4:4-7) reminds us that God sent his Son as a redeemer, so that we might be adopted as God’s children and heirs of all that God has – the birth of Jesus has made a life changing difference to us all…

So Christmas, perhaps without the lights and the trees and the cards and the ridiculously full shops, should be celebrated all year, because it has made a life changing difference to us all – and the challenge for each one of us is to recognise that difference….

Jesus was born to change us all… He is good news for all… And I think that offers three things that I want to think about this morning – I’m sure it offers many more than three things but I’m sticking to three today !

Firstly, we are invited to believe that the birth of Jesus is good and life changing news… Many people, even some church goers, profess a faith in Jesus which doesn’t really change their lives at all… It may be habit, it may be tradition, it may be part of a search to know Jesus… Whatever it is though, the birth of Jesus isn’t life changing…

The shepherds went and their lives were changed, and these weren’t people who were easily fooled. These were tough men with a tough job and with nothing to gain from this little outing to Bethlehem, but what they saw changed them…

And for millions of people since Jesus has changed lives – it may be the dramatic conversion of a criminal or it may be in the day to day strength we can gain from knowing that he is with us, but Jesus wants to change our lives… 

And there will be times when we struggle with that – when faith really isn’t easy and that leads me to the second thing I want to think about – the first is that we’re invited into a life changing relationship with the Saviour of the world and secondly we’re invited to live as if it makes a difference.

When we hear about churches today we often hear about bad news – we hear of problems, we hear of falling attendances, a lack of money, lack of clergy, too many church buildings, not enough young people – and every one of those things can be a problem and can be pretty depressing unless we believe that God has a future for us and for his church, whatever that church may look like…

Sometimes we talk about good news but we fail to live like we believe it, and then we wonder why people aren’t attracted to the church or more importantly to the God we represent.

We need to be good news, we need to be people displaying evidence in our lives that something has changed us and continues to change us… I don’t believe for a moment that God who sent prophets promising that a Saviour would come for the world, and a God who sent his Son into the world to save the world, and a God whose Son lived on earth offering us an example of how to live and love, and then died and rose again for us, is ever going to be beaten by falling attendances and all of the other things I mentioned.

These are just distractions which admittedly can discourage us but ultimately should challenge us to confidently tell people the good news about Jesus being born for us all… And that is my third point. We’ve thought of the invitation to believe. We’ve thought of the invitation to live like our lives have been changed and now we’re invited to tell others about it.

The shepherds didn’t return to their fields and keep these things to themselves, they told others and I think we have a duty to tell people about news that is potentially life changing for others…

Christmas, like lots of things, has become secularised in lots of ways, but I don’t think that’s something to sit and moan about, but something to remind us that secularism takes over only when we let it… Each one of us, maybe in small ways, has the possibility of making sure that Jesus isn’t forgotten in Christmas, and one of the ways of doing that is by making sure that we don’t just celebrate Jesus at Christmas but live as people who are changed by him every day…

We’re reaching the end of a year where the reviews will look back over far too many sad and tragic events once again and it’s right that we have to reflect on those things, but it’s right also that we must reflect and respond with the hope of Jesus, with the joy, goodwill and love of Jesus and make sure that these things, as shared by us, make a difference for others…. AMEN