More about Christmas

What a great time Christmas is; there is no other time in the year when families come from all over the country to be together. Relatives who have not seen each other for a long time make the effort to visit, presents are exchanged, a good meal is enjoyed and there is great fellowship. The spirit of love and friendliness is everywhere. On Christmas Eve any stranger you pass will wish you a happy Christmas and you will be only too happy to do the same .

  Seeing this Agapanthus bud opening absolutely amazes me. These flowers in all their completeness and colourful designs were completed inside the closed bud. The things you or I would say were impossible, are no problem at all to a God who can program a plant to do that. For example we are told in Chapter 1 of Luke’s Gospel in the New Testament that the Angel Gabriel came to a young virgin named Mary and told her that God’s Holy Spirit would arrange for her to become pregnant; and that her baby would be called Jesus and be the saviour of the world as had been predicted hundreds of years before. No problem for God!

The Angel also appeared to Joseph, the man Mary was engaged to, and explained the situation to him. I am pleased to say that Mary and Joseph accepted the responsibility of becoming the earthly parents of the most remarkable child that was ever born. It is interesting that God chose an ordinary carpenter’s home for Jesus to grow up in. That way Jesus can relate to you and me because he understands how ordinary people live and what it means to be short of money at times and all that sort of thing.

When Mary was 9 months pregnant, Caesar Augustus (the Roman emperor) decreed that all people had to return to their place of birth for a census to be taken, so Mary and Joseph returned to Bethlehem. However they didn’t phone ahead and make a booking at the motel for two reasons: Firstly phones hadn’t been invented yet and secondly there were no such things as motels either. Therefore they had to take “pot luck” that there would be a room at the Inn, however they were late arriving as Mary was just about to give birth and riding side saddle on a donkey was a bit rough and slow. By the time they got there the other visitors had taken all the rooms. Of course God had arranged this so Jesus would be born in a humble stable and would use a feed trough as his basinet. That way no one would ever be able to say Jesus had it better than them.

There was great rejoicing that night as a host of angels appeared to the shepherds nearby singing “Glory to God in the highest, good will to men” and told them about Jesus birth, so they went and worshiped him. Shortly afterwards 3 wise men from the East followed a star that they knew would lead them to the Saviour and after expecting to find him in Herod’s palace finally found him in the stable at Bethlehem.

And they presented Him with presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Herod had asked them to return and tell him where the baby was when they found him, however they were warned by God that Herod wanted to kill the child so they returned home another way. God then warned Joseph about the assassination plot too, so Joseph, Mary and Jesus took refuge in Egypt until they were informed that King Herod had died.

Because of all this Jesus has no difficulty empathising with refugees either as He and His parents had to flee for their lives. Our Jesus is adequate for any situation and therefore offers salvation to anyone who believes as He said himself: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”. And ultimately that is what Christmas is all about.

Jesus is the reason for the season so I do trust that you have a lovely Christmas.

Best wishes,   Tom.