December 2016 – Is there more to Christmas?

Is there more to Christmas?

 

ChristmasAre you ready for Christmas? There are preparations to make and quite a lot of things to think about: presents and food and party invitations, friends, relations and decorations, the films we love to watch snuggled up on the sofa…. Then there are the joys and stresses which the season brings. Is there more to Christmas than this? It’s not that difficult to actually miss the whole point of Christmas.

The advertisements, now famous in their own right, would have us believe that this is it. The fairy lights and music in the shopping centre are enough to bring a frisson of excitement and a sigh of contentment, but, come January, they won’t help with the dent in the bank balance.  Is there more to Christmas than this? The point of Christmas is Jesus. You would expect the vicars to say that! But what are we really celebrating?

Some would say our world is in a right mess and much of it is of our own making. Immanuel means God with us; here in the mess with us. Jesus, God’s Son, need not have come into the real world, to walk with people who have real problems, in the messiness of everyday life. He could have stayed in the Kingdom of light where he rules supreme. But he came to bring light and hope to people such as you and me, and our neighbours and relations. He came as a helpless baby to live a life of love and service and finally sacrifice. And he came willingly. Isn’t that quite remarkable? Somehow in the vulnerability is a beauty and power that surpasses anything else. Perhaps this is precisely what Christmas is about: the vulnerability of God’s Son, born in squalor, born to be king, born into the mess to bring hope and born into the darkness to bring light.

Christmas is so much more than presents and food and party invitations. It’s about a person who deserves our worship. There will be opportunities to worship at St Mary’s and St John’s over the Christmas season. We’ll have a variety of events and services suitable for old and young and in the middle! Do come and join us to celebrate Jesus’ birth and invite your friends and neighbours. And wherever we find ourselves, on Christmas morning, let’s worship the king of love and light. Yes, there is more to Christmas.

“The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” John 1:5

We wish you a very happy Christmas,

Jonny and Cathy

December Vicars