I have just returned from a wonderful Christmas celebration with my son and daughter-in-law and one of the highlights was the Christmas morning service at their local church. I so wanted to sing all the traditional carols and that is what happened. The church was beautifully decorated and a lot of effort had been put into making this a very meaningful Christmas celebration. The sermon was short and to the point, but unfortunately it missed the point entirely! How could that happen?

When I wrote the Advent Calendar which I published in my December blog, I was once again reminded of the depth of meaning of that first Christmas, especially when reading the songs  of  Zechariah, Mary and Simeon. All these were full of theological statements concerning the promised Messiah ( Jesus)  many from the prophets of the Old Testament, and this was in stark contrast to the shallowness of Christmas celebrated in the commercial world. I cannot comprehend how any Christian can not be in awe and wonder when visiting the Christmas story of the Bible.

Consequently, I was very interested in an article by Greg Sheridan in the Weekend Australian newspaper, 22-23rd December 2018, and so I have decided to quote some of that article here.

"...in the end, without its core religious message, everything else about  Christmas is just tinsel. There is a world of difference between tinsel with a purpose and tinsel just there to distract.

"You cannot come to any meaningful encounter with Christmas without comprehending its revolutionary supernatural transcendent religious claims.  The gospel accounts of the conception and birth of Jesus are uncompromising. Mary was a virgin and Jesus is the Son of God.  The good happy sentimentality of Christmas.......nonetheless tends to obscure just how radical and revolutionary this account is."

The Gospels and the rest of the New Testament are full of the claims of divinity and eternity - "Jesus said  'I am the resurrections and the life.'"

"The sheer outrageousness of this claim is so breathtaking that there are really only three ways to respond:deny it altogether, accept it with all its mystery or ignore it."

Mr Sheridan goes on to say that many churches and the secular world would like Christianity to go - maintain the good works etc  but forget forget the Christian message of sin and forgiveness.

"Some had asked 'can we not emphasise all the social goods that came from Christianity but leave out the theology?'...Every human being has a tendency to evil and without a basis for goodness, there can be no absolute sense of rejecting evil.....You cannot inspire people on the basis that this story ( Christian/Christmas theology) is untrue and false, but yet is full of merit. If it is untrue it has no claim on anyone's loyalty.

"The truth cannot be reshaped merely to serve the tinsel."

 I was quite shocked when I read that article for those were my thoughts entirely but so much better expressed than anything I would write.

May the wonder and joy of that first Christmas be with you all through 2019.

 1. 1350 years before Jesus was born, Jacob blessed his son Judah and promised that Kings would be born from his family. Who would the special King be?​

2.  750 years before Jesus was born, the Prophet Isaiah said ‘A young woman will have a baby and will call his name ‘Immanuel’ (Jesus means Immanuel or God with us). Who was the young woman? 

3.  400 years before Jesus was born, the Prophet Micah said ‘From Bethlehem a great ruler ( or King)  from God will come to bring peace”.

4  God sent the Angel Gabriel to tell Mary her baby would be the great ruler and she must name him ‘Jesus’. What does the word ‘Jesus mean?

5. Mary and Joseph were all prepared for the arrival of their baby, but  not knowing that....

6.  “Oh no” cried Mary, “Go to Bethlehem. Not now, when I am about to have a baby.”

7.  The Emperor told everyone to go to their home town to be counted. As Joseph’s hometown was Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph had to leave immediately and travel 150 klm.

8.  When Mary and Joseph arrived at Bethlehem, Mary  was exhausted but there was no-where for them to stay. Her baby would be born very soon – what  would  they  do?

9.  A kind inn-keeper showed them a stable where they could stay.

10.   During that night, Mary called out  to Joseph “Wake up, the baby is going to be born”. Did Joseph immediately take Mary to hospital?

11.  There were no hospitals so Joseph had to help deliver Mary’s baby in the stable. They wrapped the baby in baby clothes and put him to sleep in a manger. What was  the baby’s name?

12.  Mary and Joseph were so excited about the new baby Jesus whom they knew was God’s son, but with no telephone, they could not tell anyone  that he had been born. No-one would know or so they thought.

13.  God was making sure everyone would know that Jesus had been born! He even sent his choir to tell the shepherds – that was much more exciting than a telephone call.

14  The night was dark and quiet...... SUDDENLY an angel, bright as day, stood near the shepherds up on the hill. “Don’t be frightened, I’ve got great news for you – Jesus  is born.”

15. “God has sent to earth his son, Jesus and you will find him in a stable in Bethlehem, just as the Prophets told us hundreds of years ago”.

16.  Before the shepherds could even say ‘Happy Christmas’ God’s choir appeared in the sky and sang praises to God in heaven, and peace on the earth.

17.   Suddenly it was dark and quiet again but the shepherds said “what are we waiting for?” so off they stumbled in the dark, down the hill to Bethlehem.

18.  How do you find a baby in the middle of the night? What did the angel say “you will find him in a stable”, so where is  that  stable?

19.  Mary and Joseph were exhausted after their long long walk and the birth of their baby. All they wanted to do was sleep when ‘bang bang’ – someone was banging on the stable door. Who could it be?

20.  As Joseph opened the door of the stable, some shepherds rushed in saying “ has a baby been born here tonight?  Can we  see him?” Mary and Joseph were shocked – how could these shepherds know about baby Jesus?

21. That same night a new star appeared in the sky a long way away in another country. “What does that star mean?” asked the Wise Men.

22.  “ The new star is moving across the sky – I wonder if a special King has been born? Let’s follow the star.”

23.  On their camels, the Wise Men followed the star all the way to Bethlehem.

24.  The Wise Men gave Jesus very special presents for when he grew up, gold for a King, frankincense for a priest ( God’s helper on the earth) and myrrh for when Jesus died on the cross.

25.   What can I give him small as I am?      Give my heart!

  
Recently I was with three couples, all in the senior age bracket, and each wife had the same comment to make about her husband – how nice he was to others but when it came time to interact with his wife, how difficult he became. My eye surgeon was a grumpy old man ( he retired a week after my cataract was removed) and ‘fortunately’ I had had enough experience  in dealing with his type of dialogue, not to become angry with him. Now , I am not going to go down that path, except to say that I do feel it is a situation to be explored from a medical point of view, but what it did do was make me think of how Jesus reacted to women.

Of course, Jesus did not get to the age of being classed as a grumpy old man, but we do hear of even younger men ‘dying’ of ‘man flu’ for example – in other words, when something goes wrong, life is all about them – wives never have to suffer such debilitating conditions! I realise not all men are like this, but the proverbial joke is not without some truth.

So let’s look at Jesus, in the setting of a patriarchal society. Yesterday I read an article about Malala Yousafzai, that wonderful outspoken  teenager from Pakistan, and who was shot by the Taliban at age 15. Maybe her background was more extreme than in Jesus’ time but it did give a  contemporary  example of how women are treated in a patriarchal society – her father certainly bucked the system by treating his daughter equal to a male, starting with a good education. 

Jesus never put down women; he never ignored them; he never treated them any less because they were women – just read the gospels for examples of this behaviour  as there are plenty there.
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But what has always really amazed me, is Jesus words to his disciple John, when Jesus was slowly dying in absolute agony on the cross. ( John 19:26-27) “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother ‘Woman, here is your son’ . Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother’ “. What man, slowly being suffocated and in excruciating pain, can think of someone other than themselves?  And that is just the human side of the story – the theological one  for Jesus was even worse. Yet here is Jesus, reaching out to his mother. That really gets to me, that Jesus  is still capable of such love, even under these horrific circumstances. I sure would not expect that of anyone.

The Bible tells us quite clearly, that Jesus was both God and human, but the human part – how much of this was ‘male’? Physically we assume him to be male, but mentally/emotionally? Was  his thinking  typical of  any  men of his time? If anyone has done  or read of a study on this subject please let me know as I am sure it would be really fascinating to explore this further.
Why did Jesus think the way he did? Could he have grown into a grumpy old man?

 Or did Jesus show us what should be normal in society and give us an example that we should follow?
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Love was his message; Jesus is God and God is Love.

 


 When studying English grammar at school, we were taught about the 'active' voice and 'passive' voice and in local politics in the 1980s, I found the passive voice very useful. For example, I could safely say something like 'it would appear that the hole was caused by poor workmanship' (passive voice) instead of the dogmatic
' poor workmanship caused the hole' ( active voice). 

Sometimes Christians need to be passive and other times active, in relation to interactions with other people, and this can make life just a little difficult. When is the right time to be 'active' and 'passive'?  Sometimes, Jesus' teachings still confuse me and a reading in Matthew 21:33 ff, the 'Parable of the Wicked Tenants' brought this home to me. The story concludes with the statement "he will put those wretches to a miserable death". I realise the purpose of the parable was not about social justice but this seemed a very violent end to a story, told by the most peace loving person to walk this earth.

And then there are Jesus' retorts to the Pharisees - 7 times in Matthew 23 Jesus says,  'Woe to you' and v 33 'you snakes, you brood of vipers' - not exactly politically correct by today's standards, but an apt description of what these upholders of God's law had become and what they were doing to God's law and thus to the God's people. Jesus certainly was not the 'gentle Jesus meek and mild' when the situation called for this other side of his character but notice, he only became assertive like this, not to defend himself
( such as when he was on 'trial') but to defend God's truth and how this related to people knowing God's truth - God's  love and care.

My comment about ageing is that I must become more gracious as I become less tolerant  and I relate this as to how I am treated by people as there are times when I feel I need to be 'active'and other times, 'passive'. I recently resigned from a social group because of bullying by committee members - all of us in our 70s and this was just so ridiculous, but rather than fight my cause, it was more peaceful to resign and move away (passive).  However, when our neighbours' trees damaged our house  in the cyclone last year, trees which for 8 years we have  been requesting our neighbours to remove in order to prevent damage to our place, because they refused to cut down these trees, we are now taking them to court to ensure our future safety. This is being active.

However, my examples are trivial when compared to the current world scene of persecution of Christians. Indian Christians have now become a target as are Christians in northern Myanmar and Nigeria,as well as so many other parts of the world. How should Christians is these situations react? Should they be 'active' or 'passive'? From my armchair I would not even dare to  suggest an answer, but from the safety of my armchair, I   must at least pray for them.  Matthew 16:8 reminds us that Jesus said "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it".

'Life wasn't meant to be easy' as the saying goes, and it can sometimes be difficult to work out whether to be 'active' or 'passive' in our own given situation. However, when it comes to the horrors of the persecution of Christians it is comforting to know that Jesus will not allow Satan, in whatever form, to win. Jesus will ensure that God's truth will prevail, "For His loving kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD!" ( Psalm 117:2)

What wow moment do you remember?

A wow moment for me was when I was visiting America and the tour coach drove to the lookout at Bryce Canyon. Wow! was that a magical moment. I had never heard of Bryce Canyon so had no idea what to expect, but the rock formations were like nothing I had ever seen or imagined. Lunch that day was forgotten as my travelling companion and I walked the rim of the canyon, soaking in the scenery and of course, taking lots of photos.

I think King David had a wow moment as he contemplated his relationship with God  over the course of his life. I always find it interesting hearing the eulogy at a funeral and learning about aspects of the person's life which I did not know, and of course, now it is too late to have a chat with them to find out more. People always say nice things about the person, and I wonder if they had ever said it to the person while they were still alive - it's a bit late at a funeral. King David was not going to miss out on saying all the good things he wanted to tell God!

2 Samuel chapter 22 is entitled 'Davids' Song of Thanksgiving' and I think that as King David looked back over his life and at how God had been such an important part of  every aspect of his life - the good and the not so good - he had a wow moment. This song is not a trite list of 'thankyou God' moments, but an explosion of memories, of mind blowing occasions that could lead King David to exclaim in his opening statement " The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge."

Only someone who had actually experienced God with them, could say "In my distress I  called upon the Lord...and my cry came to his ears." " The Lord was my stay....he brought me out...he delivered me...he delighted in me".

The end of the financial year is fast approaching and many businesses are advertising their 'stocktake sales'. We all know how important it is to stop and sort through all the stuff in our lives - material and emotional, keeping only what we really need. As King David did his stocktake in the words of this song, he was confident to be able to say "This God, his way is perfect; the promise of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all who take refuge in him."

​What a wow moment!