One way we can improve our thankfulness is through practice! (Practice makes perfect, they say, and I’ve certainly found that we never improve in any area of our lives without effort and persistence.) One song tells us to ‘count your blessings, name them one by one’, and this is something that with practice, we can learn to do.

So today, amidst the flurry of activity which is probably making you feel far from thankful, take the time to list some of the things you can be thankful for. Perhaps it’s the sunshine or the crisp frost. Maybe it’s getting a card in the post from an old friend. Perhaps it’s spending time with a friend or just the blessing of a child-free cup of coffee! The more you think about it, the more you will find to be thankful for.

And if you really can’t think of anything, then you can be thankful for the fact that God loves you, Jesus came to earth to be your Saviour and the Holy Spirit can now live in you to help you every single day of your life… which is quite a lot of reasons to be cheerful!

Paul tells the Thessalonian church to ‘give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ (1 Thess 5:18) He goes even further to the Ephesian church, telling them to give thanks ‘to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Eph 5:20) It’s clear that thankfulness is hugely important to those who follow Jesus.

How can we do this? How can we give thanks when our world seems to be falling apart? How can we give thanks when there is so much poverty, suffering and injustice around us? The only way we can do this is to realise that God is good and He will work for the good of those who are called by Him (see Psalm 119:68, Romans 8:28). The Bible has much to say about suffering and sorrow, but it also affirms that God’s plans can’t be thwarted, and that history will culminate in a time when there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain. (Revelation 21:4) It is because of this hope that we can give thanks, no matter what.

As the countdown to Christmas really begins this week, we have reached the ‘T’ of ‘Advent’: ‘Thankfulness’. Thankfulness and gratitude are so important to living well. Research tells us that gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. It’s really about an attitude which helps us to see the bigger picture and understand our role in that.

The Christmas story reminds us that we are not at the centre of the universe. God is. It reminds us also that we are valued and loved, that we have purpose and meaning, and this helps us to live meaningful lives. We are not insignificant or unimportant; we matter to God so much that He gave His only Son to save us. The Christmas story is a love story. It’s not just about the love between Mary and Joseph or the love of parents for their child. It’s about the love of God the Father for humanity and about the extraordinary lengths He went to in order to invite us into His family.

That’s a lot to be thankful for!

I think it’s safe to say that most adults at church don’t particularly enjoy the spotlight being turned on them as we sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them. But children often see this as something positive, being eager to celebrate birthdays! Today, one girl who will be 5 later this week decided it was worth being on the birthday box twice: once in our morning meeting and once in our evening meeting!

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we won’t be forgetting her either!

Garry spoke tonight from Matt 1:18-25, reminding us of the name given to Jesus, ‘Emmanuel’ meaning ‘God with us.’ We might say that this is obvious; Ps 139:7-12 makes it plain that we cannot escape from God’s presence anywhere, since He is omnipresent! But the presence of God with us possible since Jesus took on human flesh is different. Over recent years we have become familiar with Zoom, WhatsApp video calls and Face Time, all of which enable us to see someone whilst talking to them, which is a great help in communication. You can go further than this with telepresence (a set of technologies which allow a person to move as if they were actually present in a situation, such as is used in robotics) and with haptic technology where you can wear sensors and actually feel the bumps and shakes of a car in racing games, for example.

John 1:14 reminds us that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. He moved into our neighbourhood, so to speak, and Jesus (God in human form) experienced all we feel – human emotions such as joy, sadness, betrayal and grief. He lost his earthly father, Joseph, his cousin John and his friend, Lazarus. He experienced an agonising death for us. We can never say that Jesus does not know what it is to be human. God with us knows, feels, and shares in every aspect of our lives because He is truly God with us everywhere and for all time.

Our pre-recorded Nativity ‘God Is With Us – Everywhere!’ (by Fay Rowland) which featured in our carol service tonight told the Nativity story in rhyming verse. We are very grateful to church members who took the time to dress up and record these scenes! Our thanks also to Stephen who sang Chris Tomlin’s ‘Emmanuel, God With Us’ during the service.