Dave spoke from Phil 2:5-ll TNIV this morning on the most basic of Christian creeds: ‘Jesus Christ is Lord.’ Jesus asked Peter ‘Who do you say I am?’ (Luke 9:20 TNIV), and this question is one every disciple needs to answer.

Jesus is God, but He laid aside His majesty and humbled Himself to become man. He was born in a manger in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth (a town from which no good came!), and lived as a carpenter for many years. At the age of thirty, He became an itinerant preacher who ultimately was betrayed by those He trusted and abandoned by those He loved. Ultimately, the Nicene creed says of this man ‘We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father;through him all things were made.’
‘Your Majesty’, Aaron Shust

The word ‘Lord’ is ‘kyrios’ in Greek and denotes one supreme in authority. One way this was manifested in Jesus’s life was His ability to forgive sins. He had God’s authority to forgive sins since He was in very nature God. Those who try to ascribe to Him simply ‘good teaching’ are mistaken: as C. S. Lewis wrote, ‘A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.’ (C. S. Lewis, ‘Mere Christianity’)

Jesus’s Lordship is also seen in His victory over death. His resurrection transformed the disciples from timid, fearful followers into bold proclaimers of truth and His resurrection could not be disproved, though many tried. (see also 1 Cor 15:6 TNIV). Christians believe that Jesus Christ is Lord – our master, owner, ruler and boss! Jesus is the one in charge of all history and in charge of our lives. One day, He will return and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. We eagerly await that new day with no more crying, shame, pain, fear or death, but until then are just as eager to own Him as Lord in the now!

As any follower of this blog will know, painting is not one of my pleasures. When we first decorated the building, I was happy to resolutely stay in the kitchen cooking food for all the troops who were much more adept than I with a paintbrush or roller. However, in putting up the new notice board with photos (more of which anon), it became obvious that the foyer needed re-decorating and most people seemed to be otherwise occupied this weekend, so I volunteered to do the job. Others running a quiet coffee morning yesterday were greatly amused to see how much of the paint ended up on me and willingly volunteered to take photos as ‘evidence for the blog.’ There are times when one’s words come back to haunt, it seems…!

The notice board became a project in itself and one which is not yet fully complete. It started with a vague idea that photos of the different teams serving the community from our church could be displayed in the foyer area to contrast with the photos of Goldthorpe in the main area. As usual with most of the vague ideas we have, the actual implementation of the idea so far has involved considerably more effort than originally envisaged: a signwriter, a firm selling plastic (can’t wait to tell you that story when the notice board is complete; it deserves its own post!), wood batons that needed painting, engineering skills from Garry to get the sign on the wall (the plastic remains for next week’s job list!), a picture bought during a trip to Derbyshire, Stacey’s photographic skills and equipment (I’ve finally found a profession which carries more stuff than I did as a teacher!) and, of course, everyone’s photophobia which made finding six photographs (out of about eighty taken!) quite a task. All of that awaits you, hopefully before the New Year!

To the non-Christian, the Nativity story must seem frankly bizarre: a historical narrative of a baby’s birth which was largely unnoticed by historians at the time but which prompted special stars, angelic visits and the slaughter of many male infants. All this simply for a baby boy, born in inauspicious conditions (but not the first to be born in less than ideal circumstances and certainly not the last), and then celebrated year after year in a variety of styles which (let’s face it) have nothing to do with the actual birth. What’s it all about?!

In order to understand the importance of this birth, however, we have to realise who this baby was: not just an ordinary baby born to doting parents but ‘a holy embryo’, in the words of Michael Card, born to ‘a mother made by her own child.’ The mystery of this birth is called the Incarnation – how God became flesh, how God took on human form in order to ‘be made like us so we could be like Him.’ Ever since the Fall, when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, mankind had been struggling to regain that intimate relationship with God which sin had marred, and frankly, despite every best effort, the gulf was still too wide to be bridged from our side. God’s initiative in the Incarnation, however, made a way possible for that gap to be bridged.

The Christmas story is impossible to comprehend without grasping that Jesus’s birth is far more than the celebration of new life. It is the celebration of the arrival of the Saviour – as His very name reveals – and looks forward to His sacrificial death which atones for our sins (indicated even in the myrrh brought by the wise men.) Our response needs to be to fall down on our knees in worship.

‘He sent His holy Son and so
Became a holy embryo
That is the mystery,
More than you can see.
Give up on your pondering
And fall down on your knees.'(‘To the Mystery’, Michael Card)
‘To the Mystery’, Michael Card

We like celebrating birthdays at church, and since Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’s birthday, we were happy to give out party bags to everyone who attended last night’s carol service. The bags contained a cracker, a bow for presents, a straw, a Christmas card and an answer sheet and pencil, along with a chocolate.

Someone had fun with the bows!

We also had a variety of prizes for all the games, just like at any birthday party! (Most were chocolates, in keeping with the theme of the Nativity play, but there was also a star candle and some star-shaped baubles to win.)

Here are some more jumper photos (or T-shirts or ties…)

Rapt attention on the jumper catwalk:

Mark welcomes Linda from the Great Houghton Methodist Church to the service:

After the service, we enjoyed mince pies and other refreshments, though not everyone was pleased to see Stacey with her camera!

Some people, however, couldn’t get enough of posing for photos!

The pudding and the reindeer:

A few special mentions and thanks must also be made. Special mentions go to Pat whose amazing singing hat kept us all amused; to Diane for her ease and style on the catwalk (an alternative career in modelling is clearly beckoning!); and to Garry, whose sheer stubbornness in sewing 200 LED Christmas lights (not to mention a dozen baubles) on to an old jumper defeated his thrift in refusing to buy a new jumper.

Thanks go to Gemma who wrote the majority of the Nativity play and whose creative energy fuelled the party bags and celebratory theme; to Stephen B., whose idea for the Christmas jumper competition added a lot of fun to proceedings; to Stephen T. for singing while dressed as a Christmas pudding (surely a first for that song!); to Stacey, for her willingness to be the church photographer and to all who participated in the Nativity play and music. Thanks too to everyone who attended and whose spontaneity and willingness to have fun made the evening so very special.

The Michael Card song ‘We Will Find Him’ looks at the search for Jesus by the wise men. I love his ability to capture truth in lyrics, often using paradox (‘a wordless one who is the word’, ‘in the silence of the stable there was wisdom finally heard’) and contrasting the lowliness of the stable with the the authority and splendour of Christ’s ultimate reign.

‘On a day like any other
In our search to find the truth
We turned so many musty pages
In our hope to find some clue
Then the words leapt from the parchment
From Jacob shines a star
That a wordless one who is the word
Will be worth a journey far

We have found Him
We have found Him
We have seen the true Light
What was darkness
What was shadow
In His presence is delight
This One born so lowly the heavens declare
Will someday reign without a rival there.’ (‘We Will Find Him’, Michael Card)
‘We Will Find Him’, Michael Card

The retailer Marks and Spencer have run a Christmas advertisement starting with the phrase ‘Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without…’ Last night, Stephen explored this theme:

Some people might end this sentence by supplying a variety of foods (… mince pies…. sprouts); others might end it with other items (… a jumper from Granny, presents.) More worryingly, some people could only, in all honesty, answer the phrase with indications of stress and anxiety (… endless rows… ongoing debt…) The advert suggested that what makes Christmas is what you put into it, but there was no mention of God anywhere.

Christmas is often abbreviated to ‘Xmas’ and some people think there is some kind of ‘X factor’ which makes Christmas special. The ‘X factor’ is not unknown, however, for the Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son so that we can be saved. (John 3:16 TNIV) God has given us the most amazing gift of all, His Son and our Saviour. (Luke 2:11 TNIV)

What is Christmas to you? What do you celebrate? All the things Marks and Spencer deem important might be included in your Christmas, but don’t forget that it’s all about Christ and all that God has done for each one of us. It’s good news indeed!