Garry continued his series on Joseph this morning, speaking from Genesis 44:25-45:7 when Joseph’s identity is finally revealed to his family. What his brothers had done to him many years previously had haunted them and they were terrified when they found silver and the cup in their sacks, fearing retribution would fall on them. When Joseph spoke to them in their native language (no longer using an interpreter) and revealed his identity, they must have been struck dumb with shock; the Hebrew word says they trembled inwardly. Surely Joseph would now take revenge on them in the most fearful way?

Joseph has had chance to see the changes in them; Judah offers to take Benjamin’s place and Reuben speaks for them all asking for mercy. Joseph is not bent on revenge, however. He understands the purpose of God and can forgive freely. Jesus taught us to pray ‘forgive us our sins, for we also fortive everyone who sins against us.’ (Luke 11:4) Matthew reminds us that our forgiveness of others is linked to God’s forgiveness of us (Matt 6:14-15) and Paul reminds us that we are to bless those who persecute us (Rom 12:14).

If we don’t forgive others, we are like a tethered dog, chained to the past. Forgiveness is essential, for our own benefit as well as for the sake of others.Even if the person who has wronged us does not repent, we are still called to forgive (see Luke 23:33-34, Acts 7:59-60) It is not necessarily easy to forgive (as Corrie Ten Boom discovered when meeting one of her Nazi guards after the war), but forgiveness is needed if we are to move forward in God. We know that He has forgiven and accepted us (see Ps 130:3-4, 1 John 1:9) and therefore we can have the courage to forgive others when they wrong us. Like Joseph, forgiveness can be difficult, but when we forgive, we can be sure we have God’s blessing and that He will help us, even though there is no guarantee of reciprocity.

Today is the first day of Advent, the period of 4 weeks when we prepare our hearts for Christ’s arrival at Christmas. The difference between Advent and Christmas can be confusing to people who seem to be putting up Christmas decorations earlier and earlier in our country; it’s also confusing as the Christian calendar always has the Advent period starting 4 Sundays before Christmas Day, yet Advent calendars only start on 1^st December!

Traditionally, the church links four main themes with the four weeks of Advent: hope, peace, love and joy, and in these daily thoughts throughout Advent, we will be looking at those four themes as we reflect on the many Biblical passages associated with Christmas. I’m always mindful that even today, not everyone knows the Christmas story. Some have heard only snippets and have, perhaps, a distorted view of Christmas because of the many different influences absorbed from different traditions and cultures. The best way to prepare for Christmas is to read (again or for the first time) what the Bible actually has to say about this and to look again at what it means to welcome Jesus into our world and into our own families and into our own hearts.

A new arrival in any family will bring upheaval and there must be preparation. Perhaps this is one reason pregnancy lasts nine months: to give us time to adjust to the tumultuous changes any baby brings to a family and to prepare as best we can for this miraculous addition! As we prepare our hearts for Christ’s arrival, we reflect on the role of preparation in life. Even God spent time preparing for Christmas; we will read about the arrival of John the Baptist before Jesus, whose role it was to ‘prepare the way for the Lord.’ (Matthew 3:3) Before hope can arrive, we must prepare our hearts.

This Sunday (27th November) is the first Sunday of Advent. Join us for services at 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. as we begin our preparations for Christmas.

We have a number of additional meetings in December. Please note that there will be no evening meeting on Christmas Day and no midweek meeting on Thursday 22nd December.

We have our ‘Take Back The Streets’ prayer walk (and will be distributing flyers for our carol service on that occasion) on Saturday 3rd December at 10 a.m. and will also have our coffee morning between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Saturday 3rd December.

On Sunday 11th December between 1 and 3 p.m. we will be joining with other churches and community groups to host ‘Christmas At The Embankment’, a time of carols, Christmas crafts and trails at Goldthorpe Railway Embankment. Hot drinks and mince pies will be served at this event.

We are very pleased to welcome 4FrontTheatre back in person on Monday 12th December. They will be performing their Christmas pantomime ‘Jilly Rogers’ Christmas Adventure’ at Lacewood Primary School and for pupils of Sacred Heart Primary School during the day and will be giving a performance for the community at GPCC at 6 p.m.

We’re also looking forward to Christmas parties with our Parent & Toddler groups on Wednesday 14th and Friday 16th December between 9 and 11 a.m.

Our carol service will be on Sunday 18th December at 6 p.m., featuring our Sunday school children performing songs from ‘Boogie Woogie Nativity’ by Niki Davies and traditional carols. Refreshments will be served after the service.

We have a service on Christmas Day at 10.30 a.m.

Don’t forget also our New Year’s Day service at 10.30 a.m. and our party at 4 p.m. There will be no evening service that Sunday.

I never knew the benefits (or disadvantages!) of growing up in a large family. Although my mother had three siblings, my father was (because of bereavement) an only child and I too had no siblings. I was still grateful for my family, but family gatherings at Christmas and other special occasions were never like those seen on TV ads, with people crammed around the table laden with food. My two aunts were unmarried when I was a child, and my uncle and his wife had no children. Life was singularly undramatic as far as I was concerned! There was little sense of belonging to a ‘clan’ (rather like the Shelby clan in the series ‘Peaky Blinders’); there was little sense of community in our small family, even though we were close-knit.

I don’t remember feeling particularly lonely as a child, but it was something of a shock to realise when I became a Christian in my late teens that now I was part of the biggest family in the world! Peter tells us that each of us is a ‘chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.’ (1 Pet 2:9) We are no longer merely individuals; those in Christ have a wider identity, being chosen by God. There is a specific purpose for each of us: ‘that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.’ (1 Pet 2:9) Our identity is firmly rooted in what God says about us; likewise, the purpose of our lives is defined by Him and what He has done for us.

‘Chosen’. ‘Holy’. ‘Royal’. ‘Special.’ These are all adjectives which apply to every single believer. None are adjectives I would ever have thought to apply to myself. Yet this is how God sees each of us, much to our astonishment. As a popular meme says, ‘straighten your crown and remember whose child you are.’ We who believe in Jesus have an identity and purpose far greater than we often recognise.

Garry spoke tonight from Hebrews 10:22-25 about the importance of Christian fellowship and the role of the church of God. It can be easy to be half-hearted in our approach to church (and indeed to God), but these verses urge us to draw near to God with a sincere heart, so that we are not just ‘going through the motions’ and attending services because it is routine or what is expected of us. The word ‘sincere’ is derived from a word meaning ‘not concealed‘; a sincere heart has nothing to hide and does not have mixed motives. Is 29:13 reminds us that we can come near to God with our mouths but our hearts can still be far frm Him; God wants us to be real and to come to Him, no matter what. We can’t afford to wait until everything is ‘sorted’; we need to come as we are, warts and all!

These verses also urge us to ‘spur one another on toward love and good deeds.’ We need to stir each other up, to egg each other on, to push people further rather like a sports coach does with an athlete. Great sports people often have great coaches who know how to motivate, criticise and encourage, and we have the Holy Spirit to urge us on, but we do also need other people. We need people to encourage us, get alongside us, motivate us and believe in us. All of us need this encouragement; all of us can give this encouragement.

These verses remind us not to give up meeting together. We need each other and must work together We are called to carry each other’s burdens, problems and difficulties, to open our lives and share with each other. As we do this. we reflect God’s caring nature and become empowered to do His will.

We said this morning that Nehemiah’s knowledge of God informed his prayer life and gave him hope, even when the news from Jerusalem was not good. (Neh 1:2-3) Throughout the book, we see that it was his knowledge of who God is which inspired his prayers:

• ‘Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments…’ (Neh 1:5)
• ‘You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.’ (Neh 9:6)
• ‘you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf.’ (Neh 9:17-18)

Prayer needs to start with who God is; as Jesus taught us to pray. (‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.’ Matt 6:9) Prayer is our response to God and not simply a list of our requests, though these are welcome. (Phil 4:6-7)

It is clear also that he knew God’s word and often used this as the springboard for prayer: ‘Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.”’ (Neh 1:8-9) Often, we feel helpless or that we do not know what to pray, but Nehemiah gives us a framework for prayer, starting with God’s character and using His word when we do not know what to say.