31/12/2007 by David.

New Year is a strangely arbitrary festival. It is merely the end of one year and the beginning of another.

Already the fireworks are being set off as if the locals here were going by New Zealand time.

Sometimes the significance of this shift in time is underlined by something that happens at one time but has its effect later: Yesterday I shared a sermon on rebellion in the Christian community from Luke 15 - and then this morning a letter arrived in the post complaining about problems in the fellowship. Had the poster waited they might have wanted to reconsider their words. It is sadly disappointing to address an issue one day only to find it resurfacing the next.

I have this problem with the Send button for emails. It is too easy to reply without real forethought. Perhaps at New Year we should take a deep breath. Save the noisy fireworks for a real celebration rather than sounding off at some smouldering resentment.

I am glad that God holds the key to the unknown in 2008 - but I wish we could avoid trying to turn a key of our own.

God bless your New Year!

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20/12/2007 by David.

Charley my cat has an interesting habit at this time of the year.  She finds the woollen nativity figures and selects one.  She grabs it in her mouth and carries it away - often leaving it half way up the stairs.

So it is not unusual on a morning around Christmas time to meet a shepherd or a wise man on the stairs.  This is one of the markers of this festive time.  Strangely she avoids doing this with either Mary or the infant Jesus, or even the lamb - possibly because they are smaller.  I wonder what she thinks she is doing.

What she is doing is making Christmas memorable.

Recently she had to have several teeth removed - but she is still carrying the figures around.

Have you met a shepherd or a king on the stairs this Advent? No?  Then I commend to you a re-reading of the real story in Luke and Matthew.

Better still - meet the Living Christ at this Christmas time.

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09/12/2007 by David.

Someone told me they had seen an unusual instance of parcel wrapping. A bicycle wrapped up in Christmas paper - but in such a way that it was clearly and obviously a bike! Not much difficulty guessing its contents then! I would be disappointed if I got my present like that - I want the pleasure of tearing the wrapping off and revealing the surprise.

When God sent His Son He came all wrapped up in the common towelling of infancy. “All meanly wrapped in swaddling bands and in a manger laid…” According to the custom of the time - and still used today - the Lord of Glory would be seen and yet not seen.

What would you have seen? Just a bundle - and a face, an infant face. What an amazing thing - “My God contracted to a span, incomprehensively made Man” (Wesley)! Just a face showing - and shepherds invited to peer would see Jesus - just like any other baby - and yet, and yet…

This is what Paul meant when he said:

“For God, who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor 4 v6)

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