Monday, December 25, 2017

Forgiven we are to Forgive - Christmas Day


Happy Christmas!

Welcome to our Christmas Day celebration and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time. On Christmas Day we’ve only had one before. But today we have all five! Each Sunday through Advent we have been lighting a candle. 

On the first Sunday we celebrated the hope that comes into a world that all too often seem hope-less. On the second Sunday we celebrated the peace that Christ promises deep in our hearts and the peace he challenged us to share with others. On the third Sunday we celebrated the love of God that nothing in the whole of creation can ever separate us from. And on the fourth Sunday in Advent we celebrated the joy that comes at Christmas in the presence of Christ with us. 

And today there’s something new in the air. Something that’s special for this moment, for this day. New hope, new peace, new love, new joy promised by Christ, present in Christ prompting us to work with Christ in bringing that something new into the world. In him we see the truth of the God of love, through him we can have life in all its fullness and with him we have a way of life to follow that makes all the difference.

It’s as if, in Paul’s words, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

A Happy Christmas!

306 O come all ye faithful

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

 Lighting the Christmas Candles

HOPE - Rejoice in hope, be patient when things go badly, persevere in prayer. Romans 12:12

PEACE - Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. Matt 5:9.

LOVE - This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.  Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another. God is love. 1 John 4:7,8,16.

JOY - Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:10-11

And with our Christmas candle a Christmas text:

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 2 Corinthians 5:19

Hymn: Your promises are coming true

Your promises are coming true –
our waiting hopes fulfilled.
Your light has burst upon our world –
the new dawn that you willed.
Your coming gives us hope to live,
and strength, with you, to build.

Come, Jesus, and be with us now,
be with us now,
Come, Jesus, and be with us now!

Our lives are troubled while we wait –
our failure leads to fear.
Great God, we need your healing peace,
both now and ev’ry year.
Come, live and die, that we may live
because you’re always near.

Failed people living far apart
with selfishness undone,
oh, heal us with your love, we pray,
with loving make us one:
your coming and your sacrifice –
in us new life begun.

Yet some still carry sadnesses
and pains left by their past.
Surprise us all with heav’nly joy,
come down to earth at last.
With happiness bought by your tears,
embrace us, hold us fast.

New hope, new peace, new love are ours –
new joy on Christmas Day!
We celebrate your Christmas gift –
yourself: Truth, Life and Way.
Reshape us as we worship you,
Christ-child upon the hay.

John Campbell



Reading: Luke 2:1-7

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

312 Away in a manger

Christmas Greetings




Hope, Peace, Love and Joy

On Christmas Day we’ve only had one before. But today we have lit all five!

Lighting that first candle we celebrate the HOPE that comes into a world that all too often seem hope-less.

Lighting that second candle we celebrate the PEACE that Christ promises deep in our hearts and the peace he challenges us to share with others.

Lighting the third candle we celebrate the LOVE of God that nothing in the whole of creation can ever separate us from.

Lighting the fifth candle we celebrate the JOY that comes at Christmas in the presence of Christ with us.

And today there’s something new in the air. Something that’s special for this moment, for this day. New HOPE, new PEACE, new LOVE, new JOY promised by Christ, present in Christ prompting us to work with Christ in bringing that something new into the world.

In him we see the TRUTH of the God of love, through him we can have LIFE in all its fullness and with him we have a WAY of life to follow that makes all the difference.

It’s as if, in Paul’s words, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

And yet, … can it really be so?

This year has been a troubling year in so many ways. London Bridge, the Manchester Arena, a Baptist Church in Texas, a Methodist Church in Pakistan, a Mosque in Egypt … and Grenfall.

Remembrance Sunday marked the thirtieth anniversary of the Enniskillen bombing.

When David Waters joined us to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of my ordination he spoke movingly of having just finished the edition of Songs of Praise that was going to go out on Remembrance Sunday. It had been filmed in Enniskillen and marked the 30th anniversary of a bombing atrocity in Enniskillen. A young nurse, Marie Wilson, had been killed. 24 hours later her father, Gordon Wilson, stated his determination not to bear a grudge against the perpetrators and his prayer that he would receive the grace to continue to do so. 30 years on David spoke of the way even the cameramen had been moved to tears as they interviewed Gordon Wilson’s widow, Joan, and she spoke of the power of that determination to forgive. A long-time friend, Fr Brian D’Arcy went on to make the observation,

“Forgiveness isn’t a flippant word; forgiveness isn’t an instant; forgiveness is a lifetime’s process”

And he went on to suggest that “in time the influence of Enniskillen and the influence of Gordon Wilson changed the whole picture in Northern Ireland – he showed how it could be done.”

The Christmas message has its power because it speaks into a troubled world. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

But the cynic in me says, that was then. What about now?

A year ago upwards of 25 people were killed in a church in Egypt at Christmas. A month ago many more were killed in an attack on a mosque in Egypt. We face something even worse now. Can such a respond hold now?

The week after the broadcast of that Songs of Praise programme Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent, himself a victim of a bombing outrage, was on the radio interviewing first Bishop Angelos of the ancient Egyptian Coptic Church about their experience of persecution. What was remarkable was the way Bishop Angelos responded. It was exactly in the same spirit.

“The Copts are a resilient people who have faced persecution for 2000 years and the wonderful thing for me, the very inspiring thing for me is that I always fall back on the example of people here who face this with such forgiveness and such strength and such grace.”

“What would you say then, to the extremists of ISIS and others who say Christians have no place in the Middle East?” asked Frank Gardner.

“My message to those who choose to persecute us,” replied Bishop Angelos, “is that you are loved, we forgive you.”

Frank Gardner then went on to interview Samir, whose granddaughter had ben killed in that bombing attack at Christmas last year.  He asked the same question about forgiveness:

“Could you ever forgive the terrorists who did this?”

Samir then spoke so powerfully of his Christian faith.

“Our religion teaches us to forgive. It teaches us to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us. And to pray for those who hurt us. Yes we will forgive them despite all the blood that was spilled. Our faith tells us to forgive.”

It’s that very spirit, commented Frank Gardner that makes the Coptic Peoples of Egypt and the Christians facing persecution around the Middle East so resilient.

At the heart of our Christian faith is a forgiveness that reaches out to us all from God and a forgiveness we are invited to extend to all for “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”  

It’s there in the Lord’s prayer: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.             

There is a TRUTH in this love of God that is transformational for each of us: we are forgiven: we may begin again.

That grace of God gives us a new hold on LIFE that makes life in all its fullness worth living.

And it opens up for us a WAY to follow – for we have been given a ministry of reconciliation.

So, facing whatever 2018 will bring us – and it’s going to be a year of change for all of us in one way or another – this is the message that makes a world of difference, this is the message that has the power to transform that troubled world and make all the difference in the living of our lives in that troubled world..

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself … and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

A Christmas Song with Hy-Spirit
Prayers of Concern
322 Good Christians all rejoice

Words of Blessing

No comments:

So much to pass on at Highbury

If you give a little love you can get a little love of your own

A blessing shared at Highbury

Now and the Future at Highbury

Dreaming Dreams Sharing Visions at Highbury

Dreaming Dreams Sharing Visions

Darkness into Light