Pastor’s Thoughts – Christmas 2024

Dear Friends,

As we enter the season of Advent, we come to the time of year for getting ready for Christmas. I thought that I should mention that just in case anyone was not sure what season we are in. If you have missed the endless television ads; if you did not receive catalogues in August inviting you to buy Christmas cards and gifts; or if your neighbour didn’t put up their Christmas lights on the 1st October; then you may not have realised!

Joy is found not in the season but in the story; not in the excuse for a party but in the events themselves.

I think that we understand why businesses work so hard to get our money at Christmas. People spend a lot, and if your company doesn’t get a reasonable share of that you may struggle through the rest of the year.

People often spend far more than they can afford because they want the ideal and perfect Christmas – I guess that’s not news to many of you – but why? Why does so much get spent on so small a period of time? Have you noticed, that this year, the decorations seem to have gone up even earlier than usual? Ours are usually the last to go up and the last to come down – almost no-one seems to keep them up for the traditional time, until Christmas ends on 5 January.

I can’t help thinking that these two things are related. It seems the less that Christmas means to people, the more they have to invest it with their own meaning, and the more weight they put on it. I think that there is an obvious reason for that – the word joy features more at Christmas than any other time of the year. It is joy that people seek and hope for. They want it to start as early as possible and they want to invest as much in it as they can because joy is in such short supply. There’s almost nothing in the news that inspires it and there’s very little in life that brings joy that lasts. I’m not being cynical when I say that; it’s just that joy is hard to find so it’s understandable that we should want to create some.

If only there were something that gave us a joy that is everlasting. Happiness comes and goes but joy is a deeper feeling; a deeper sense of something positive, good and victorious. Christmas is a time when most people do something to try and conjure it up. The irony of this is that joy is found not in the season but in the story; not in the excuse for a party but in the events themselves.

The Lord God has entered into His creation and offered us life for all eternity. What better news is there than that?

In Luke 2, it was to an ordinary group of people, living ordinary lives, watching over their flocks by night, that the angels appeared.

But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.’ (Luke 2:10)

Great joy for all the people. If only people looked at the story they would have every reason to celebrate; every hope of joy. Life has meaning, hope and deep, deep joy. The Lord God has entered into His creation and offered us life for all eternity. What better news is there than that? What better reason to celebrate? What deeper joy?

Why not give people the perfect gift this Christmas – tell them about Jesus. Invite the neighbours in for a festive evening; invite them to one of our events; for today we celebrate something so great:

‘Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’

(Luke 2:11)

John