When a child is born
Begin by playing through ‘When a child is born’
Some of you may know what I’m going to say about that song, but I just thought it would be nice to play one of the popular Christmas songs, one that you will no doubt hear many times in shops or parties or at home.
But… you must have guessed there’d be a but… if you listened in depth to the last verse you will have heard the words, ‘It’s all a dream, an illusion now – it must come true sometime soon somehow…’ the reality is that one of the most popular Christmas songs of recent years, is actually a song saying Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Christ, is meaningless, because that birth still hasn’t happened.
And the sad bit is that for many people Christmas is just a dream or an illusion. There will be many people who will work desperately hard to enjoy Christmas because it is just a little bit of light in an often miserable life. There will be many who spend huge amounts of money that they can’t afford to try and bring happiness into their lives – others who try and find enjoyment from a bottle… and all this just because they are waiting for a Saviour – they are waiting for someone to tell them and show them where true joy can be found – not just once a year, but all year around.
I read recently a collection of true problems and solutions that had been found on QANTAS aeroplanes – the problem is reported by the pilot, and the solution completed by the engineer – before going any further I should point out that apparently QANTAS is the safest airline in the world. However some of the problems were :-
| Problem: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement. Solution: Almost replaced left inside main tyre. P: Something loose in cockpit. S: Something tightened in cockpit. P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear. S: Evidence removed. P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick. S: That's what they're for. P: Suspected crack in windshield. S: Suspect you're right. P: Aircraft handles funny. S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious. P: Mouse in cockpit. S: Cat installed. And perhaps the Best One For Last !! P: Noise coming from under instrument panel . Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer. S: Took hammer away from midget | |||
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We all know that the Christian life isn’t always happy – That hymn we sang earlier began, ‘Longing for light, we wait in darkness, longing for truth we turn to you…’ we all know that problems will still come in our lives, but the joy of a relationship with Jesus is that we know that a victory that can never be taken away has already been won for us.
This Christmas many people are waiting – many people are dreaming and deluding themselves into happiness, many people don’t know about the fullness of life, the joy, the satisfaction, the hope, that Jesus came to bring. Many people are sitting in darkness who can’t see the light, and it is our job to tell them. As we prayed in that hymn we sang, ‘make us your own, a light for the world to see, a living voice, God’s servants to one another, making his kingdom come…’
And as Christians we too are waiting, we are not waiting for the Messiah – we know he’s already come but we are waiting for him to come again as he promised, making a new world of peace and joy, a world of no mourning, no suffering or pain or tears, a place of salvation for all God’s people.
I’ll finish with the chorus of that hymn which reads (and perhaps we could pray this quietly together), ‘Christ be our light ! Shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness. Christ be our light ! Shine in your Church gathered today…’ AMEN
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