We also had a birthday to celebrate!

As usual, we enjoyed a hands-on activity during the family service. This involved decorating the shepherd’s staff:

The finished staffs looked like this:

The reason behind this activity can be summarised in the poem below:

‘Look at a candy cane: what do you see?

Stripes that are red like the blood shed for me.

White for my Saviour, who’s sinless and pure.

J is for Jesus, my Lord, that’s for sure.

Turn it around and a staff you will see

Jesus, my Shepherd, is coming for me!’

Mark spoke from Luke 2:1-20 at the family service on the subject of shepherds. Shepherds were just ordinary people, often not regarded highly – perhaps the equivalent would be someone working on a late night shift for the minimum wage today. Yet these were the people to whom angels spoke, inviting them to visit the Saviour born in a stable.

We might ask why God chose a stable for the birthplace of His Son, rather than a palace. Certainly, a stable and a manger (a feeding trough for animals) were not the ideal place for the birth of a baby, but this choice makes it very plain that Jesus was sent to all people, for He was born without special privileges. Similarly, by announcing the birth of His Son to shepherds, God showed that He is interested in all people. The wise men may have had precious gifts to bring to Jesus, but the shepherds had nothing. They demonstrate that God wants everyone to know His good news and reveals His glory to insignificant people. What matters is willingness, which outweighs wisdom.

1 Cor 1:26-29 reminds us that God chooses the weak and the foolish so that He alone gets the glory. He calls ordinary people who have nothing to give and uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That’s hugely encouraging for us!

Here are some more of the craft items available at the Christmas Market on Friday 9th December (4-8 p.m.)

In addition to craft items, there will be home baking and refreshments to sample as well as a variety of games, tombola and raffle prizes to win. Don’t forget our donkey! – hanging proudly, who can be the first to beat the sweets out of him?!

Garry asked the question ‘are you under the influence?’ this morning, a phrase usually associated with driving offences committed under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Christianity has influenced the UK since its arrival on our shores in 200 A.D. and has an embedded influence in our culture, having shaped our legislation, morality and education over many years. However, despite the fact that 43% of the population claims to be Christian, church attendance is only 5% and it is clear that we are influenced by many different factors, not simply what the Bible teaches.

All of us soak up our culture like a sponge, often unconsciously. We need to be able to ‘step back’ a little and see the bigger picture (so that we can assess how our culture is influencing us) and to examine our beliefs and attitudes afresh. We need to learn from history (for example, Hitler’s rise to power was largely endorsed by the majority of Germans, including the church there, because he appealed to the nation’s pride and desire to be great again) and allow God to be the main ‘influencer’ of our lives.

Eph 4:20-24 talks of putting off our old self and being renewed in our attitudes so that we can put on the new self, created to be like God. That renewal is like the renovation of an old house, where everything has to be stripped right back before progress can be made. Our inner mechanisms have to be ‘radically altered’, because what God is looking for is people who will be perfect as He is perfect. (Matt 5:43-48) This means being completed, lacking nothing; ‘to do less than what God would do in a given situations means a shortfall, which is not what God wants.’ Matt 19:16-22 tells the story of the rich young ruler who had kept God’s law but who still lacked one thing, as Jesus pointed out when the command to sell his possessions and give to the poor was met by sorrow and reluctance. God, the most liberal of all givers, wants us to reflect His generous nature. The challenge we all face is to respond to every situation as God would respond.

God’s attitudes are laid out for us in Rom 5:6-8. He gives love to the unlovable, grace to the undeserving, mercy to those who do not deserve it. He works for His enemies and reaches out in healing even when the response is ingratitude (as the nine lepers demonstrated.) In other words, God gives freely and without expecting anything in return; the ‘quid pro quo’ mentality of so many of us (epitomised in the proverb ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’) is foreign and alien to God.

We have to step back and evaluate our attitudes and responses, our behaviour and our giving, for God wants our attitudes and thinking to be renewed, renovated, completed in Him. What influence are we under? God’s people need to be under His influence!

Cowering in fear, he hid from the presence of God.

Opened eyes meant shame and confusion, condemnation and terror.

He no longer craved that holy presence,

Walking in fellowship in the cool of the night,

But fled, hiding in the shadows of dusk.

Since that first sin, condemnation has crippled us:

The sneering voices, the mocking ridicule,

Telling us God can’t possibly care for wretches like us,

Eroding our confidence like the waves pounding on the rocks,

Doubt penetrating our DNA

Until we are left, battered, on the solitary sea shore of abandonment and alienation.

Another man came with a fire in his eyes,

Urging repentance, a change in lifestyle,

A messenger in the spirit of Elijah, pointing to a Messiah come to bring hope.

This Messiah, though, was a Lamb as well as a Lion,

And with a jolt of unexpected recognition,

We see conviction, not condemnation.

A man so pure and righteous,

We are both repelled and drawn nigh at one and the same time.

Conviction pierces, lances, exposes

The secret places of our hearts,

But it draws us in to a place, long forgotten,

Of forgiveness, healing, acceptance, restoration.

Conviction does not condemn.

As we humble ourselves before this Merciful One,

We are touched by grace and truth,

And welcomed in with love.

Come, with confidence,

Run, with boldness, into the arms of the One who won’t let go,

Approach with no trace of apprehension or fear.

For this Miracle Man brings salvation, not condemnation.

He restores and does not reject.

He welcomes and does not drive us away.

Come now with confidence before the throne of God,

For He came to the lowliness of the stable,

Understanding rejection and indifference,

But always ready to welcome you in.