The Joy Of Trials

Dec 21, 2023

James offers us a different perspective on joy when he writes, ‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.’ (James 1:2-3) Most of us balk at this notion. How can trials be considered joy, let alone ‘pure joy’? Most of us want to avoid trials. We don’t like difficulties in any shape or form. We don’t feel like welcoming them as friends (as J. B. Phillips puts it) or seeing trials as gifts (except perhaps the kind of gift you can immediately return to the shop to be exchanged for something else!)

James assures us that ‘the testing of your faith produces perseverance’ and goes on to say that perseverance is necessary to make us complete, to bring us to maturity. (James 1:3-4) When we see trials in this light, as a refining process which actually produces something good in us, we are less likely to be resentful of them and more able to find joy even in the hard times. Jesus promised to give us His joy (see John 15:11, 16:24), a promise we can rest on every day of our lives.

 

Hard Work and Celebration

Dec 20, 2023

Today at GPCC we will be celebrating: it’s our final Parent & Toddler party this morning and then we’re having a Christmas afternoon tea in the afternoon. As with all celebrations, work and joy go hand in hand. We will be making sandwiches, preparing food, setting up, tidying away, washing up and setting up again, all in the space of a few hours. I expect by the end of the day we’ll feel exhausted!
Similar things happen in every household over the Christmas period: people buying food and drink, preparing lavish meals, cooking for extended family, and having to tidy it all up afterwards. Celebrations can be hard work! As my mother used to say as she baked for Christmas, ‘there aren’t any fairies in this house.’
But the work is part of the joy. The work reminds us that we are helping others, that seeing the smiles on people’s faces, the gasps as they look at our culinary works of art, is reward. Teamwork can be one of the great blessings of this time of year, as we work together to celebrate. Solo celebrations are nowhere near as much fun.
Don’t stress about celebrating this year. If our meals are not as fancy as we would like, that’s not the end of the world. What really matters is the joy of sharing and the pleasure of helping.

The Pathway to Joy

Dec 18, 2023

I firmly believe that the pathway to joy is lined with the daily discipline of giving thanks. Paul says, ‘Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18) He goes even further in Ephesians 5:20, saying, ‘always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’

 

We become thankful, joyful people by joyfully giving thanks. It’s as simple as that. It’s a daily discipline. Pollyanna learned to play the ‘glad game’, finding reasons to be glad in every circumstance that came her way. Somehow, we find it much easier to list our complaints and moans and groans than we do to give thanks, but as we stop to count our blessings and think of reasons to be cheerful, our attitudes change, and we realise how blessed we are. Then we are, as C. S. Lewis put it, ‘surprised by joy.’

The Miracle of Christmas

Dec 17, 2023

The song ‘Miracle In The Town’ contains the lyrics:
‘Two thousand years ago,
In a town that we all know,
Underneath the brightest star,
People came from near and far.
Little did they realise
That right before their very eyes,
A miracle was happening in the town:
Astonishing, amazing miracle in the town.
Astonishing, amazing miracle in the town.
Born in a lowly stall,
Baby Jesus, here for all,
There upon the straw and hay,
Now we call it Christmas Day,
But the people there and then,
They never knew in Bethlehem,
A miracle was happening in the town.’ (‘Miracle In The Town’, Tom Kirkham & Matthew Crossey)
Tonight at our carol service, we explored the miracle of Christmas, commenting on the fact that God intervened in human history in miraculous ways (angels appearing to Zechariah, Mary and Joseph and then to shepherds, a star guiding wise men from the East, an immaculate conception and a Saviour born who was fully human and fully God.) Without God’s miraculous intervention, there would be no Christmas and no salvation. But at the same time, the paradox is that Jesus came as a lowly baby, born in less-than-perfect accommodation and relatively few people knew about His arrival. He was ‘in very nature God’, as Paul puts it (Phil 2:6), but He ‘did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.’ (Phil 2:6-7) The miracle is clothed in the mundane: contrary to what the carol says, Jesus did cry as a baby; He was just like us!
We too live in an imperfect world. Our Christmas comes with financial pressures and family fallouts, with ill health and problems. We find as we enter into the Christmas story each year that God truly is Immanuel, God with us. He is there is in the everyday and the mundane just as much as in the miraculous; He is there with us through thick and thin. We have good news of a miracle-working God, but we also have a God who knows what it is to be fully human and who, because He is sinless, is able to be a high priest and atoning sacrifice, bringing us back to God. (See Heb 2:18)
Christmas gives us the opportunity to embrace Jesus and to be part of the family of God who know and receive the astonishing, amazing miracle that happened that first Christmas. Don’t be like the majority who did not realise God was working in that town. Be like the shepherds and the wise men: come and worship Jesus and in your hearts set Him apart as Lord.

Carol Service 2023

Dec 17, 2023

We had a lovely time at our carol service tonight, with the children singing so well! They performed two songs from ‘Bethlehem Ballroom’ by Tom Kirkham and Matthew Crossey, ‘Miracle In The Town‘ and ‘Shepherd Salsa’ and we enjoyed singing carols old and new, including a Christmas Hokey Cokey, which reminded us that God’s love is ‘what it’s all about’.
We also had a birthday to celebrate!
Our thanks to the children who all received Christmas presents as a very big ‘Thank You’ for their readings and singing throughout the service.

The Word Embodied

Dec 17, 2023

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it’s worth remembering that He is the Word who is God (see John 1:1-5).He was there at the beginning and was involved in creation; the Word is God, who could make something from nothing (something even the most creative person can’t do!) He came to earth to save us (Heb 10:5-7), a reminder that a sacrifice was needed for sin, showing us the seriousness of rebellion against God. The sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament point to the gravity of the situation, but were only transitional, temporary ‘solutions’ until Jesus came. He was One who was obedient and did not refuse to do God’s will. His obedience meant death on a cross (Phil 2:5-8) but was the means of our reconciliation with God.

As a result of Jesus’s coming, He has made God known to us. (1 John 1:1-4) He loved us so much that He brought God’s light to our darkness and promised to dwell with us for ever as our ‘Immanuel.‘ Our God is both King and man, friend and helper. We have a Saviour who is closer than a brother, someone who knows each of us by name. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!