As one member of Dearne Churches Together remarked today, ‘We don’t do boring!’ Today’s Christmas Sheep Celebration certainly couldn’t have been described as boring! We had a variety of Christmas crafts to do (making sheep keyrings, sheep ‘jumpers’ (like a jack-in-a-box, not a wearable sweater!), decorating sheep, could play the Lego game ‘Shave a Sheep‘, and had various word searches and colouring activities to do. We also enjoyed singing about sheep and listening to a story about a lost sheep, not to mention watching a short puppet show featuring a sheep, a donkey and a camel…

Cecil the Lost Sheep had his own story:

We were also pleased to round up all 30 of our lost sheep from the Advent Sheep Trail.

At the Parent & Toddler Christmas Party, we had a visitor in red bringing presents for the children (though some slept through this momentous event!)

The adults also won raffle prizes Finally, we gave flowers and gift vouchers to Diane, who has run this group for many years (starting when her own children were only toddlers and now happy to see her grandchildren attend) Although she will still attend the group, she will no longer be running it and we were glad to be able to acknowledge her commitment, faithfulness and excellent organisation over many years. Thank you so much!

Today we had our Parent & Toddler Christmas party – the Christmas jumpers and dresses were very impressive!

The food was equally impressive! – thanks to Diane Burgin and Bev Wassell for this.

We enjoyed a game of ‘Pass The Unicorn’:

All in all, both parents and toddlers seemed to have a good time!

Stephen spoke tonight at our new family service, armed with a very large teddy bear…

He spoke about how, as children, we often like having the comfort of a teddy bear at night when it is dark: ‘When Teddy’s there, I don’t feel scared any more; I feel peaceful.’ A teddy bear can be a comfort: ‘Teddy to the rescue!’

In the same way, God has provided us with a source of comfort (and rescue) in the person of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose name (according to Matthew 1:23) is also ‘Immanuel’ – ‘God with us.’ When Jesus is with us, we don’t have to be afraid… of bugs, spiders, snakes, the dentist, doctor or anything else, for Jesus promised His followers peace: ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’ (John 14:27)

When Jesus returned to heaven, He asked His Father to send a gift, the gift of His Holy Spirit to be with us always and whose peace can bring comfort and strength to us in every situation. Peace is a very precious Advent gift that can last far longer than the four weeks leading up to Christmas!

We can thank God for Jesus and for the Holy Spirit, for the gift of peace which guides us and calms our fears. To help the children remember this, they were all given their own teddy bears!

We had two birthdays to celebrate in retrospect tonight – one for November and one for December.

At the Cherry Tree Court carol service this morning, Garry spoke on the subject of ‘Advent Peace‘, focussing on the announcement of the good news to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-16). It must have been a terrifying sight to be dazzled and blinded by the light of the angels when the shepherds were minding their flocks in the darkest night, but the angels brought reassurance and good news, including the proclamation of ‘peace to those on whom [God’s] favour rests.’

Many would question the peace that Jesus brought, declaring that ‘if Jesus came to bring peace, that was one spectacular failure’, citing the wars between countries, civil wars, terrorism and school shootings which still abound today. This year has seen the centenary of the end of the First World War, during which 20 million people were killed. (On Armistice Day alone, 11,000 troops were killed.) Peace seems to be wishful thinking, another children’s fairytale with the promise of a happy ending which seems unlikely to be found in reality.

The Hebrew word for peace (‘shalom’) signifies much more than the absence of hostilities, indicating contentment, wellbeing, wholeness and harmony. Ultimately, Jesus came to be the peacemaker between humanity and God, for people have resolutely refused to live by God’s rules and ignored Him, being scattered like sheep on the hillside, all determined to go our own ways. Jesus came to reconcile us to God and give us full peace, a peace that will be eternal. This peace enables us to become peacemakers with other people, helping us to live in restored relationships. Jesus was not a spectacularfailure, but a resounding success, being the bridge or pathway to lasting peace with God and with other people. At Christmas time, we celebrate God with us (‘Immanuel’) and the fact that the Prince of Peace came to earth. His coming has made all the difference to life.