Still to come in December is the Christmas Day service, starting at 10.30 a.m. Join with us to sing carols, celebrate Communion and worship Christ our Lord this Friday – the service will only last an hour, so plenty of time still for Christmas cooking!

There will be no badminton on Christmas Day or coffee morning on Boxing Day, but on Sunday 27th December, services will be at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. as usual.

Don’t forget also the New Year’s Day party on Friday 1st January 2016 at 4 p.m. It’s always a great time of fun and fellowship, so bring your friends and family for a festive introduction to 2016!

Having reached the end of Psalm 119, we are still not quite at the end of our Advent musings; we have still not reached the stable at Bethlehem and paused to gaze in wonder at the baby in the manger.

Yesterday, we looked at our part in prayer, but it is worth pausing to reflect on the fact that prayer is a response to God: ‘You reveal and we respond’ (‘King of Wonders’). Prayer is not simply about expressing ourselves to God, but learning to answer God.

God is a God who speaks. He spoke creation into being (Genesis 1) and John describes Jesus as the Word of God (John 1). Michael Card describes Him as God’s ‘final perfect word’ (‘Final Word’). Ironically, however, this Word of God chose to enter our world garbed in flesh and blood, and, in coming as a baby, to have no words at all. When we arrive at that manger to worship, we acknowledge the limitation of words. Wonder, sometimes, runs out of words. Adoration doesn’t need words.

As we tiptoe into the manger to gaze on our newborn King, words may well be left outside. Prayer is not always articulate: ‘silence, sighs, groaning – these also constitute responses.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Answering God’, P 12)

Today’s society leaves little room for silence or for contemplation. But today, cherish the silence of worship and draw near to God in reverent awe. In the silence, you may well hear His voice in new ways, for this ‘wordless One’ still somehow manages to speak to our hearts.

Read Psalm 119:169-176.

The subjunctive is a grammatical mood in language that is all but forgotten in English (though it is alive and well in other languages.) Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred; the precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. The only place we regularly find it still in English is in certain expressions using ‘may’ and ‘let’, many examples of which can be found in the concluding stanza of Psalm 119 (‘may my cry come before You… may my supplication come before You… may my lips overflow with praise… my Your laws sustain me… may my songs sing of Your word… may Your hand be ready to help me… let me live that I may praise You.’ Ps 119:169-175).

The psalmist expresses his desires and requests, but he is also aware that these things are beyond his own capability. He is not able to fulfil these requests; He needs God to do that.

Prayer is a dialogue between us and God. On our part, it involves our honesty, a pouring out of our thoughts, feelings, hopes and fears to God. Our part of prayer also involves both petition and supplication.

Petition is often a direct asking (using the imperative): ‘give me understanding according to Your Word’ (Ps 119:169); ‘deliver me according to Your promise’ (Ps 119:170); ‘seek Your servant’ (Ps 119:176). Supplication, more often than not, uses the subjunctive as we pray for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10-11), as we earnestly plead with God to work His salvation out in our everyday lives.

Our part in prayer is only one part, for it is a dialogue, not a monologue. Petition and supplication are only part of our part in prayer, for there will be times when thankfulness, proclamation and adoration also have their place. But it is not surprising that the longest psalm in the Bible ends with a series of requests along with declarations (‘all Your commands are righteous’, ‘Your law is my delight’, ‘I have not forgotten Your commands’, ‘I have chosen Your precepts’ Ps 119:172-174, 176). Prayer cannot exist without a daily dependence on the God to whom we pray.

Stephen’s sermon on Sunday morning looked at the manger, and how even the place where Jesus was placed at his birth was symbolic of the rejection He would face during His life. Casting Crowns develop this theme in their song ‘While You Were Sleeping’, which looks at Bethlehem, Jerusalem and modern America and how we are so often oblivious to what God is doing. There is a need for us to wake up and live in the light (1  Thess 5:1-11).

‘Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night.
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you’re lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light,
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight.

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping,
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today.
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping,
While you were sleeping.

Oh little town of Jerusalem,
Looks like another silent night.
The Father gave His only Son,
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come,
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save.

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Saviour of the world is dying on your cross today.
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping,
While you were sleeping.

United States of America,
Looks like another silent night
As we’re sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we’re lying in the dark
There’s a shout heard ‘cross the eastern sky,
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night.

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping?
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay?
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King?
Will we be sleeping?
Will we be sleeping?

United States of America
Looks like another silent night.’ (‘While You Were Sleeping’, Casting Crowns)

Every Monday night of term-time, volunteers from GPCC run a youth club which involves games and craft activities for 5-11 year olds. Over the past few weeks, the craft activities have focussed on Christmas and are now displayed on one of the notice boards at church:

Our thanks to all who help supervise the club which re-starts on Monday 4th January.

Read Psalm 119:161-168.

Shepherds were minding their own business, tending sheep, when angels appeared to them, bringing the message of a Saviour’s birth which would forever change their lives. This ‘good news of great joy’ was for all the world (Luke 2:10), a message to banish fear and bring ‘peace to men on whom His favour rests.’ (Luke 2:14) The shepherds would not probably have described themselves in those terms, but as far as God is concerned, He wants all people to be saved. (2 Pet 3:9)

God’s Word reveals to us that we are all highly favoured, that this good news applies to the ‘whosoever’ will believe. The old hymn says ‘whosoever surely meaneth me’ (J. Edwin McConnell) and the psalmist experienced similar joy: ‘I rejoice in Your promise like one who finds great spoil.’ (Ps 119:162) We are like those who strike it rich (lottery winners?) when we realise God’s promises apply also to us!

This does not mean a trouble-free life: ‘rulers persecute me without cause.’ (Ps 119:161) However, it does bring a peace that passes understanding (Ps 119:165, see also Phil 4:6-7), a sense of wellbeing that isn’t dependent on external circumstances.

The psalmist’s whole life is focussed on God (‘seven times a day I praise You for Your righteous laws’ Ps 119:164) and obedience is a key part of that (Ps 119:167-168). Just as Mary learned to treasure in her heart all that happened to her (Luke 2:51), we have to learn the secret of waiting expectantly for God’s salvation and doing what He tells us in the meantime. (Ps 119:166, The Message)