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Christmas is a time of Hope and Joy

Ron Skivington reminds us of the gift we will all be offered this Christmas.

Well, it has not been the year many were expecting and, at the time of writing, Christmas as a celebration is still up in the air. Many of the things people take part in or enjoy going to visit may be shut or so heavily restricted that it’s just not going to be possible to do them. Family celebrations may find fewer sitting around the table and poultry businesses are said to be expecting a demand for smaller birds. And, of course, we have to ask if Father Christmas should be travelling from country to country? 

So, for many it might not be the normal season of good cheer they look forward to each year, and many may be approaching it with more of a heavy heart.
 
However, Christmas is still a time of hope, a time of joy, a time to be able to celebrate because of what it means, and Covid 19 and all that surrounds it cannot stop that from being true. That hope and joy is something each and every one of us can experience for ourselves.
 
Folk have asked “Why is this happening?” Others say “What is God trying to say to us?” and some even wonder if it is a sign that we are approaching the end of days. Is our world as we know it nearly finished - Is Jesus about to return?
 
The book of Hebrews begins "God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently He has spoken to us through His Son."

The birth of Jesus all those 2000 plus years ago was the final and greatest sign to our world that God exists, that He loves us, that He identifies with us and that He longs for us to know Him. A sign that we might have a lasting, living hope, and experience the joy and peace that only He can give, which cannot be replicated any other way or by any other means than by finding it through Jesus.
 
The world Jesus was born into was also a dark, miserable, difficult, hard place and time. The ordinary people were poor and it was the Romans, not a virus, that kept people indoors and afraid – even their own king Herod killed many of their babies because he was threatened by the talk of the King of the Jews who had recently been born.
 
The one true Light that burst into all that gloom and doom is the same Light that will shine this, and every, Christmas and it was the birth of a baby. Babies, as we know, nearly always bring great joy, are certainly always a cause of wonder and mystery for, as any parent knows, looking at their new born brings an amazement that something that looks so perfect came from me, from us, and that child as it grows will reflect something of the nature and character of their parents.
 
However, Jesus’ birth was different to any that will take place in any hospital, back of a car, bedroom, wherever a child may be born this Christmas because His was a birth foretold generations before. The angel Gabriel turned up at Mary's and told her it would be soon, choirs of angels sang their songs when Jesus was born, witnessed by shepherds, and later by kings on camels with gifts.
 
But the thing that unites Jesus to all of us is that as He grew He showed more and more of the nature and personality of His Father, and He spoke about His Father's love for you reading this article all these years later. He lived demonstrating His love for you too by offering you the best gift you could possibly receive this Christmas. It is the gift that only God can give you because it is the gift of new life. The life that gives hope and life even in the midst of a deadly pandemic, that gives joy even at the most miserable of times, that gives peace when all around is clamour and noise, and that says “You are safe in the arms of God.”
 
Most years, families flock to grottos so their children can sit by a man in a red jacket and receive from his helpers a present that, no matter how good it is, will last only a limited time. This year that probably won't be able to happen, so instead, take your family to the manger and ask God to bless them and yourself with His best for you. His light and life that will not just bring you through these days but will last eternally.
 

This article first appeared in Stalham’s Community Scene magazine, and is used with permission.
 
The image is courtesy of pixabay.com


ron skivington

Rev Ron Skivington is Senior Pastor of Stalham Baptist Church.

 
 
 
 

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