Happy Christmas to all! Today we reach Christmas and Advent – all the waiting – is over. We pray you will have a blessed Christmas time, taking time to pause and celebrate Jesus.

Today’s song urges us to ‘celebrate the child who is the light.’ This song resonates with memories for me, chiefly my two year old son playing along to the cassette (yes, it was that long ago…) on an old adult-sized guitar, merrily singing along in half-words which were all he could manage: ‘cel.. chil…is light…now darkness o-o’. For some reason, this was one of his favourite Christmas songs and as we celebrate in church later, with him playing the piano to accompany our carols, I cannot help but celebrate God’s faithfulness to our family along with His faithfulness in sending Christ.

‘Celebrate the Child who is the Light
Now the darkness is over
No more wandering in the night
Celebrate the Child who is the Light

First born of creation
Lamb and Lion, God and Man
The Author of Salvation
Almighty wrapped in swaddling bands.’ (‘Celebrate the Child’, Michael Card)

One of my greatest fears for Christmas is that we treat it as a fable, a fairy story, something which is sweet and cute but which actually does not really matter. This song addresses that head-on, declaring the Christmas truth that ‘Godhead and manhood became one.’ Let’s dwell in that mystery today, the mystery of the Incarnation, knowing that because Jesus put on human skin, He knows what it is like to be human, with all its joys and sorrows, and because He is Almighty God, He is able to save us. Let’s celebrate Jesus!

Recently voted the most popular carol of all, ‘O Holy Night’ focuses on that night when Christ was born. As we prepare for Christmas Day, let all within us praise His holy name, for Christ is with us, Lord of all.

‘O holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees, o hear the angel voices
O night divine, o night when Christ was born
O night divine, o night, o night divine

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His Gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise His holy name
Christ is the Lord, o praise His name forever
His power and glory yet the poor proclaim
His power and glory yet the poor proclaim

Fall on your knees, o hear the angel voices
O night divine, o night when Christ was born
O night divine, o night, o night divine. (‘O Holy Night’)

Listen to choristers sing the song here or to versions by Kutless  or Chris Tomlin or an instrumental version by Phil Keaggy.

At primary school, there is an often an opportunity for children to ‘show and tell’: to bring an item into school to show the class and to talk about what this item is and what it represents. It’s an ideal opportunity to find out what the child likes and to encourage speaking and listening skills.

Today’s song is a re-working of a classic: ‘Go Tell It.’ It urges us to spread the good news that Jesus Christ is born. Spreading that message was the job entrusted to the shepherds and the wise men and is now entrusted to us. Let’s go and tell!

‘Go tell it on the mountain

Over the hills and everywhere

Go tell it on the mountain

That Jesus Christ is born.

While shepherds kept their watching over silent flocks by night

Behold throughout the heavens there shone a holy light.

Well, the shepherds feared and trembled

When lo above the earth

Rang out the angel chorus

That hailed our Saviour’s birth.’ (‘Go Tell It’,  Aaron Shust)

Helping the community is part of our church’s title (Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church), for we believe that our role is to be with God in the community in which He has placed us.

Today, a number of us had the privilege of helping at the Salvation Army, wrapping presents for their Christmas appeal and preparing food parcels to go out to needy families:

Food and presents have been donated by people from the community: church members, local shops (such as Asda in Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe and One Stop in Thurnscoe), local residents and other organisations. Volunteers from local churches, local shops, Sure Start and health trainers as well as local residents all joined together to wrap Christmas presents for families and then assembled food parcels, comprising tinned food, fresh food, biscuits and sweet treats. Twenty-nine Christmas parcels were then distributed to residents in Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton-on-Dearne whose needs had been identified by local agencies and churches.

Many thanks to all who have provided so generously and to all who worked so hard today, arriving at 9 a.m. and not leaving until 3 p.m. when the last parcels were delivered. Please continue to pray for the families who have received this help. Their needs will not be immediately solved by these parcels, though our prayer is that their hearts might be touched by the kindness shown to them and they might be able to celebrate Christmas more fully because of this help. Nonetheless, we need to continue to help throughout the year and offer practical and spiritual support to those who are struggling in so many ways. Please do keep praying and supporting this vital ministry!

Advent will soon be over and Christmas finally here!

We’re holding a service on Christmas Day, starting at 10.30 a.m. Come along to worship Christ the Lord before you tackle the turkey and brussel sprouts and Christmas pud!

Services on Sunday 28th December will be at 10.30 a.m. (Communion service) and 6 p.m., when we’ll be looking back over the year and considering how Christ is for the whole year, not just for Christmas…

Don’t forget the New Year’s Day party, which will be on Thursday 1st January at 4 p.m. Come along for great refreshments and wacky games… Bring your friends and family too and start the New Year as you mean to go on, with God’s family!

Don’t forget also that the next ‘Churches Together’ meeting will be on Saturday 17th January at 7 p.m. at Furlong Road Methodist Church, Bolton-on-Dearne. These meetings were a real highlight in 2014 and we are excited about how God will continue to work in and through every church in 2015.

Is 55:8 is a verse which needs constant highlighting: ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.’ 

Nowhere is this verse seen more plainly than in the Christmas story. The Jews eagerly anticipated the arrival of the Messiah, but did not expect – despite the prophecy in Micah 5:2 – that this would take place in such an insignificant place as a stable. The wise men knew the star heralded the arrival of a king, but they allowed reason to lead them to the most obvious place for a king to be born. So often, God seems to take delight in astounding us by working in ways that seem to us so insignificant and lowly. As today’s song reveals, ‘a throne in a manger, the cross in a cradle’ seems to be the way God loves to work.

‘No reputation, no stately bearing
No palace bed for royalty
But a star in the Heavens, a sign full of wonder
Announcing the coming of the King of kings

Rejoice, o world, your Saviour has come
Through the love of a virgin’s womb
Son of God, Son of man, born that we may have life
You were born that we may have life

A throne in a manger, the cross in a cradle
The hidden revealing this glorious plan
Of a Child who would suffer, a Child who would conquer
The sin of every woman, the sin of every man.’ (‘Born That We May Have Life’, Chris Tomlin)

What might we miss today of God’s workings if we only use our thoughts?