As you know, our community carol service is on Sunday 22nd December, starting at 6 p.m. As well as singing traditional carols, we will also be having some not-so-traditional games and competitions, for we believe that coming together as church is fun and we want to welcome people into an atmosphere of family fun. One of the silly things we will be doing on that evening is having a ‘Christmas jumper competition’ where we all come dressed in a Christmas jumper. Yours might look like these ones:

You don’t have to buy a special jumper if you don’t have a Christmas jumper; you can always adapt any jumper you already own and customise it (adding tinsel or a bauble would turn it into a Christmas jumper; having a tree or a star somewhere in the design would also qualify!)

Normally, the thought of any kind of catwalk would fill me with dread, but the thought of us all looking silly in Christmas jumpers is one I actually find quite heartening. Usually, we all enjoy spending time with friends and family at Christmas and the carol service underlines this, as well as teaching us more about the importance of the birth of Jesus. There will be gifts and prizes to win, so do come along in your Christmas jumpers and plan to have a great evening!

When pupils study languages, there are four ‘assessment objectives’ that are tested, largely because there are four main ways in which we absorb and use language: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Jesus is called ‘the Word’ (John 1:1 TNIV) and we often associate that with speaking and reading in particular. But just lately I discovered that the Hebrew word for Bible is Miqra, a noun formed from the verb ‘to call’, qara. Eugene Peterson writes, “The Bible is not a book to carry around and read for information on God, but a voice to listen to… It is a word to be listened to and obeyed, a word that gets us going.” (‘Practise Resurrection, P 33-34)

God speaks to us and we need to listen! He spoke to Moses at the burning bush and revealed Himself by a new name: Yahweh (Exodus 3:4-14 TNIV). He spoke to Samuel as a child, even though Samuel did not initially recognise His voice. (1 Sam 3:1-21 TNIV) He spoke to Jeremiah and appointed him as a prophet. (Jer 1:4-10 TNIV) In the New Testament, Jesus called four disciples by name and kept calling followers. (John 1:35-51 TNIV). Later on, His voice stopped Saul walking on the road to Damascus in his tracks and set him off on a new path with a new name, Paul. (Acts 9:4-19 TNIV)

Our whole lives are changed when we hear God’s voice calling to us and leading us. We need to respond; we need to follow where He leads. But the first step in all of this is to hear the voice of the Shepherd speaking to us. As John wrote in the book of Revelation, ‘Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ (Rev 2:7 TNIV)

One of the key prophecies we remember at Christmas-time is found in Isaiah 7:14 TNIV: ‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.’ This is quoted in the birth narratives in Matthew 1:23 TNIV where the meaning of ‘Immanuel’ is given: ‘God with us’. One of the most exciting facts about Christmas is the fact that God came in the form of Jesus to be with us and that He remains with us by His Spirit at all times.

“A sign shall be given,
A virgin will conceive,
A human baby bearing
Undiminished deity.
The glory of the nations,
A light for all to see,
And hope for all who will embrace
His warm reality.

So what will be your answer?
Will you hear the call?
Of Him who did not spare His son
But gave him for us all.
On earth there is no power
There is no depth or height
That could ever separate us
From the love of God in Christ. (‘Immanuel’, Michael Card)
Michael Card, ‘Immanuel’

It never fails to irritate me that so many Christmas songs have banal lyrics and very little to do with the real meaning of Christmas. (I know, I know, bah humbug and all that, but actually, it’s because I love Christmas so much that I get so irritated by the secularisation of the season.) As we prepare for Christmas, here’s a new version of an old favourite, ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ for you to enjoy:
Paul Baloche, ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing/ King of Heaven’

We have been given many reasons to give thanks, but the update on the fundraising for the food bank project provided us all with additional reasons for thankfulness. The church has been able to give a donation of £1000 to the Salvation Army foodbank in Goldthorpe and Mark McKeown’s sponsored half-beard-growing raised £783.10, including a very generous donation of £200 from the Great Houghton Methodist Church. We are sure this money will be immensely helpful to provide practical assistance to all those in need at this time of year.

Many, many thanks to all who have supported the food bank programme and who give regularly to this. It’s a good idea to keep buying items like scarves, gloves, fleece blankets and hot water bottles, particularly if these are discounted in the January sales.

Last week, Chris and Adrian from the Salvation Army were interviewed for the BBC programme ‘The One Show’ about the food bank and about the new community shop due to open today in Goldthorpe. Goldthorpe will feature on ‘The One Show’ tonight, so you may well see the interview if you watch the programme at 7 p.m. tonight! It is worth noting that Goldthorpe is the UK pilot for this scheme which aims not only to offer a range of products at significantly reduced prices, but also to provide an interactive programme of wider support available free of charge in the Community Hub from budgeting and debt advice to cookery classes. Further information can be read in the ‘Guardian’ article on the Goldthorpe community shop.

As a church, we have been praying for economic regeneration in the area and have also been doing what we can to offer practical help to those in need. Let’s give thanks to God for the generosity of so many people and continue to pray not only for economic regeneration but for spiritual regeneration in our area.

Ephesians 5:4 in the Message version says, ‘Thanksgiving is our dialect.’ A dialect is ‘a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group’ and involves both specific words (eg a ‘bread roll’ may be called a cob, batch, bread cake, barm cake or scuffler, depending where you live in the UK) and accents (how these words are pronounced.) For Christians, we have a new language, Paul says: one which involves thankfulness.

There are times when it is extremely easy to be thankful: when you are healthy, when you feel loved, when life is going well for you and you are happy and successful, giving thanks is relatively easy. But the Bible encourages us to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess 5:17 TNIV), learning contentment whether we are in need or in plenty (Phil 4:12 TNIV) and also commands us to give thanks for everything. (Eph 5:19-20 TNIV)

As we grow in God, this command seems less baffling than at first, for we realise that nothing comes into our lives unless it has been filtered through God’s love. ‘God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’ (Rom 8:28 TNIV) What the enemy means for evil, God is able to turn to good: as Joseph said to his brothers, ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’ (Gen 50:20 TNIV) God is never the author of evil, nor is He a sadist who enjoys our discomfort so much He gives us impossible commands and then laughs at us when we fail to achieve them. He is able, however, to turn every tragedy, every heartache, every trial and every suffering into something which will strengthen us and help us to become more like Christ, and therefore it is possible to give thanks for everything, however difficult that may be for us to do.

The autobiography ‘Joni’, written by a young girl who became quadraplegic after a diving accident at the age of seventeen, is one example of how God can work good from tragic circumstances. Understandably she struggled with doubt and depression and feelings of utter bewilderment as she realised that her life was not going to be as she had imagined it would be. At times she said “I wished God were like He used to be, a few notches lower. I wanted Him to be lofty enough to help me but not so uncontrollable. I longed for His warm presence, times when He seemed more… safe.” (‘The God I Love’) But she said she learned ‘Suffering provides the gym equipment on which my faith can be exercised.” (‘Suffering’) She has shown through a lifetime of rich and diverse ministry and endless help to the disabled that tragedy does not have to have the final word in our lives. Thankfulness can open the door to blessings that are poured out from heaven.