I’m always struck by Luke 2:7 when I re-read the Christmas story: ‘She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.’ No room in a heaving Bethlehem overrun with descendants of David returning to their home town for the Roman census. No room for the Saviour of the world, born to a world that really didn’t want to know him. The irony of this situation always challenges me to look at how much room there is in my life for Jesus. You would think at this special time of year, it would not be a problem to find room for Him, but it’s always alarming to me how many things (often good things in themselves) can creep in and push Jesus out.

For a couple of years now, the line from the carol ‘Joy To The World’ has reverberated around my heart: ‘let every heart prepare Him room.’ When visitors come to our homes, there is preparation. Extra food must be bought. Bedding needs to be changed if they are sleeping over. Cleaning and tidying have to be done. In the same way, we have to de-clutter our lives at times to carve out time to be with Jesus. We have to purify ourselves. (1 John 2:28) We have to learn (as Mary did), to drop the busyness to spend time with Him. (Luke 10:38-42)

Making room for Jesus means there must be no room for certain things. Out must go fear, anxiety, doubt and despair. Out must go selfishness, pride, covetousness, bitterness, envy and anger. There simply isn’t room or space in our hearts for these things and Jesus. We can’t keep those attitudes and be with Jesus. We have to get rid of things in order to embrace the hope, peace, love and joy which Jesus promises.

Many people ‘have a good fettle’, as my Mum used to say, prior to putting up Christmas decorations. They throw things away that are no longer needed so they can make room for the new. We too need to ensure we put off our old self and put on the new, to understand that we have no room for sin so we can have plenty of room for our Saviour.

For me, devotion is often allied to faithfulness and perseverance. I see it in the Mum who gets up yet again in the night to deal with a crying child, even though she is beyond weary herself. I see it in the Dad who goes out to work in all weathers to provide for his family. I see devotion in the many small acts of kindness which strengthen relationships: the gift of a bunch of flowers as a ‘get well’ present or the gift of a box of chocolates to someone who has been struggling recently.

Christmas is often associated with gifts, and it can be difficult to feel enthusiasm for buying gifts when you have struggled with shopping bags on a busy day or are finding it hard to make ends meet. Jesus spoke about the greatest commandments being to love God with all we have and are and to love others as much as we love ourselves. Faithful love and devotion matter a lot. We see this in Simeon and Anna, servants of God who were privileged to meet with Jesus soon after His birth. Their faithfulness and devotion to God meant they were in the right place at the right time to see God’s Messiah. (Luke 2:22-40) God is no man’s debtor; He meets with us every time we show Him devotion and is there to bless us.

Throughout this year, Dearne Churches Together has worked to give out small tokens of kindness and love to our community. At Easter we gave out hearts to the community and care homes, and today we will be giving out stars. These have been made or decorated by people who wanted to bless others, oftend spending much time on these gifts, and we are grateful for the many hundreds of stars which have been knitted, crocheted, sewn, painted or decorated in other ways. We have stars made from beads, stars that are baubles and many other kind of stars, all reminding us of the star which guided the Magi to baby Jesus.

Jesus said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35). Devotion understands this and seeks to bless other people from the abundance of blessing God gives to us. Thank you to all who have supported these community projects so selflessly. We pray that God will see each act of devotion and will bless all who receive these stars.

The ‘D’ of Advent for me stands for ‘Devotion.’ Devotion is a love or loyalty for someone that is usually seen in actions. If you are devoted to someone, you think about them a lot, and this results in actions. A parent who is devoted to a child will seek the child’s best interests and will look out for them in a hundred little ways. When you’re devoted to someone, you will put their interests ahead of your own and will look to help and bless others.

The Christmas story is full of small acts of devotion: Joseph feeling utterly miserable because he thought Mary had been unfaithful to him but not wanting to expose her to public disgrace, Mary singing praise to God even though to conceive as a virgin left her open to public scorn, Elizabeth publicly naming her son ‘John’ (not a family name) in obedience to the angel’s command. We often feel that small acts of kindness and devotion go unnoticed, but Advent is a time when we can show our gratitude to God in lots of small ways.

Why not use this time to show devotion to those who may be struggling and in need?

Many people feel that the Old Testament and New Testament are completely different. They see a wrathful, vengeful God in the Old Testament, a set of ‘thou shalt nots’ and are put off by the violence seen there. The New Testament, the story of life from the arrival of Jesus on earth to the end of time, is presented as a complete reversal of this, with love the main theme. Some people, therefore, feel there is little consistency in the Bible and shun God as a result.

However, whilst there are obvious differences between the two ‘halves’ of the Bible, there is consistency in how God is portrayed. He is love (as John’s first lesson explicitly tells us), but to simply focus on this without acknowledging His other attributes will lead to a lopsided view of God. His holiness, justice, righteousness, love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness can be found in both Old and New Testaments.

We looked at some of these themes in the New Testament last night and discovered there is much there about the coming judgment and God’s wrath (see Matt 3:1-12, Matt 7:P13-14, Matt 13:24-30). There, we also read of God’s forgiveness but this is not wihout warnings to repent and forgive also (see Matt 18:21-35). Judgment is seen in Acts too (think of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11 or Herod in Acts 12:19-24). The New Testament actually develops the revelation of God seen in the Old Testament, where, for example, the Fatherhood of God can be clearly seen (see Matt 6:1-18, Ps 68:4-5, Ps 89:20, 26, Is 63:16, Jer 31:8-9). We need to understand that the New Testament is incomprehensible without the Old Testament and the Old Testament foreshadows all that is explained in the New. We need both, and can be reassured that there is consistency and hope within the entire BIble.