The work of Christmas begins...
It might only be a week but Christmas now seems a long time ago – much has happened, normality has been resumed in so many ways… (Even New Year’s festivities are completed for another year...)
January is often referred to as the most depressing time of year – the time when winter gloom really sets in, the euphoria of Christmas has ended and people have to get back to living ‘real life’.
Christmas is a wonderful interlude in our lives, but now it is very much time to get on with life… And this is kind of the sense of our gospel reading today (Luke 2:15-21). The angels had left, then the shepherds visited the new born Jesus and they went back to their fields glorifying God – and life went on… It was time for the Jesus to be circumcised to fit in with the Jewish traditions… The Son of God had been born and would grow and live as one of us...
A famous Christmas verse says, "When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with the flocks, then the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal those broken in spirit, to feed the hungry, to release the oppressed, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among all peoples, to make a little music with the heart… And to radiate the Light of Christ, every day, in every way, in all that we do and in all that we say… Then the work of Christmas begins.”
For so many people Christmas is a one- off event – fun for a while or perhaps for some a stressful nightmare, but Christmas isn’t a once a year celebration – Jesus came into the world to transform the world and all of our lives forever…
The work of Christmas doesn’t begin in our carol services, and Christmas celebrations – important though those things are. It begins as we seek to live out the work of Christ in our lives….
So what might that work be ? Every one of us has some sort of calling, every one of us is loved by God who calls us to his service, whether we always recognise it or not. Whether young or old, God wants us to play a part in his creation. He wants us to offer his love to everyone. This may be in ordained ministry, but for many it will be in our day to day lives – how we treat one another, how we treat people around us, those we know and those we don’t.
The world today is filled with chaos. We live in a time of great financial instability; we live in a time of unrest in many parts of the world, not least of course, in the land of Jesus himself. We have turmoil at times in the Church with all kinds of arguments about different things, usually very petty, but hugely distracting from concentrating on the work of Jesus, and of course many people have chaos in their own lives, for a variety of reasons.
In the Bible turmoil and chaos is sometimes portrayed in terms of water – we think of the great flood, or Jesus calming the storm out on the waters… but through all things we have a message that God is still in control….
And that is our hope and our belief – that whatever chaos and misery surround us, or whatever turmoil there is in the world, God is there. As we move on from Christmas, we must continue to share the message that God entered the world again in the form of Jesus and he came into a world filled with turmoil and chaos, he saw the pain, he felt the needs of real people, and he offered them peace….
Today perhaps that is our greatest opportunity for ministry – to bring hope into a troubled world, and into lives filled with worry and pain. We do that, not by being incredibly clever, not by having the right words to say all of the time, or some training which will miraculously transform us into marvellous pastoral visitors, but by offering ourselves, by listening, by showing we care, and by encouraging people to trust that, whatever pain they face, they are not alone – God is with them, and we are with them…
I have no doubt that the support of God is more than enough for anyone, but that doesn’t mean people don’t need the support of people as well. There’s that wonderful story about the little girl lying in bed one night crying for her mother because she was scared in the dark, so she called her mother, who shouted up that she didn’t need to worry because God was with her, and the little girl replied, ‘I know God is with me, but I need someone with skin on as well…’
All of us need to support each other – in the reading from Galatians (4:4-7) we were reminded that we have been born into a family where we can call God ‘Abba ! Father !’ One of the joys of our faith is being part of a family - a family that must support each other in good times and in bad…
On this day we don’t look back to Christmas, but we look forward to the task ahead, trusting that some day it may be said by that voice from heaven, as it was of Jesus, “You are my beloved son (or daughter !), with you I am well pleased.’
The light of the world is here – Jesus came amongst us and remains with us constantly. With the Holy Spirit we are equipped to go about doing his work… I heard a comment from someone saying something like, ‘When did we think it was a good idea for the Church to be quiet ?’ In other words when did we think it was a good idea to stop shouting out a message of hope and peace, to stop showing really practical but extravagant displays of love for one another…
Too often it seems we have become embroiled in a situation where we don’t know what we should do. There’s a story (I might have told before but I really like it !) about a woman who was walking along the street one night and came upon a man parked outside her building walking around under the streetlight and gazing intently at the ground. She asked what he was doing and he replied that he was looking for his car keys which he’d dropped.
She offered to help and started looking as well. After about 15 minutes of intense searching she asked, “Are you sure you dropped them over here?” “No, I dropped them near my car which is over the other side of the road”, he replied. “Well, why are we looking over here”? she responded, barely able to hide her sarcasm. “Well, because we’d never find them over there. There’s no light over there!”
There is only one place to find the true light of the world and that is in Jesus – and there is only way to serve him, and that is by offering ourselves to live as he lived – full of compassion, offering hope and peace, forgiveness and encouragement, working for peace and justice, and showing love in everything we do and say.
The Christmas season impacts the whole country and much of the world. May it be our dream and our vision and our passion that Jesus impacts people in the same we not just for a season but forever. AMEN
January is often referred to as the most depressing time of year – the time when winter gloom really sets in, the euphoria of Christmas has ended and people have to get back to living ‘real life’.
Christmas is a wonderful interlude in our lives, but now it is very much time to get on with life… And this is kind of the sense of our gospel reading today (Luke 2:15-21). The angels had left, then the shepherds visited the new born Jesus and they went back to their fields glorifying God – and life went on… It was time for the Jesus to be circumcised to fit in with the Jewish traditions… The Son of God had been born and would grow and live as one of us...
A famous Christmas verse says, "When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with the flocks, then the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal those broken in spirit, to feed the hungry, to release the oppressed, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among all peoples, to make a little music with the heart… And to radiate the Light of Christ, every day, in every way, in all that we do and in all that we say… Then the work of Christmas begins.”
For so many people Christmas is a one- off event – fun for a while or perhaps for some a stressful nightmare, but Christmas isn’t a once a year celebration – Jesus came into the world to transform the world and all of our lives forever…
The work of Christmas doesn’t begin in our carol services, and Christmas celebrations – important though those things are. It begins as we seek to live out the work of Christ in our lives….
So what might that work be ? Every one of us has some sort of calling, every one of us is loved by God who calls us to his service, whether we always recognise it or not. Whether young or old, God wants us to play a part in his creation. He wants us to offer his love to everyone. This may be in ordained ministry, but for many it will be in our day to day lives – how we treat one another, how we treat people around us, those we know and those we don’t.
The world today is filled with chaos. We live in a time of great financial instability; we live in a time of unrest in many parts of the world, not least of course, in the land of Jesus himself. We have turmoil at times in the Church with all kinds of arguments about different things, usually very petty, but hugely distracting from concentrating on the work of Jesus, and of course many people have chaos in their own lives, for a variety of reasons.
In the Bible turmoil and chaos is sometimes portrayed in terms of water – we think of the great flood, or Jesus calming the storm out on the waters… but through all things we have a message that God is still in control….
And that is our hope and our belief – that whatever chaos and misery surround us, or whatever turmoil there is in the world, God is there. As we move on from Christmas, we must continue to share the message that God entered the world again in the form of Jesus and he came into a world filled with turmoil and chaos, he saw the pain, he felt the needs of real people, and he offered them peace….
Today perhaps that is our greatest opportunity for ministry – to bring hope into a troubled world, and into lives filled with worry and pain. We do that, not by being incredibly clever, not by having the right words to say all of the time, or some training which will miraculously transform us into marvellous pastoral visitors, but by offering ourselves, by listening, by showing we care, and by encouraging people to trust that, whatever pain they face, they are not alone – God is with them, and we are with them…
I have no doubt that the support of God is more than enough for anyone, but that doesn’t mean people don’t need the support of people as well. There’s that wonderful story about the little girl lying in bed one night crying for her mother because she was scared in the dark, so she called her mother, who shouted up that she didn’t need to worry because God was with her, and the little girl replied, ‘I know God is with me, but I need someone with skin on as well…’
All of us need to support each other – in the reading from Galatians (4:4-7) we were reminded that we have been born into a family where we can call God ‘Abba ! Father !’ One of the joys of our faith is being part of a family - a family that must support each other in good times and in bad…
On this day we don’t look back to Christmas, but we look forward to the task ahead, trusting that some day it may be said by that voice from heaven, as it was of Jesus, “You are my beloved son (or daughter !), with you I am well pleased.’
The light of the world is here – Jesus came amongst us and remains with us constantly. With the Holy Spirit we are equipped to go about doing his work… I heard a comment from someone saying something like, ‘When did we think it was a good idea for the Church to be quiet ?’ In other words when did we think it was a good idea to stop shouting out a message of hope and peace, to stop showing really practical but extravagant displays of love for one another…
Too often it seems we have become embroiled in a situation where we don’t know what we should do. There’s a story (I might have told before but I really like it !) about a woman who was walking along the street one night and came upon a man parked outside her building walking around under the streetlight and gazing intently at the ground. She asked what he was doing and he replied that he was looking for his car keys which he’d dropped.
She offered to help and started looking as well. After about 15 minutes of intense searching she asked, “Are you sure you dropped them over here?” “No, I dropped them near my car which is over the other side of the road”, he replied. “Well, why are we looking over here”? she responded, barely able to hide her sarcasm. “Well, because we’d never find them over there. There’s no light over there!”
There is only one place to find the true light of the world and that is in Jesus – and there is only way to serve him, and that is by offering ourselves to live as he lived – full of compassion, offering hope and peace, forgiveness and encouragement, working for peace and justice, and showing love in everything we do and say.
The Christmas season impacts the whole country and much of the world. May it be our dream and our vision and our passion that Jesus impacts people in the same we not just for a season but forever. AMEN
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