The text for the carol service sermon is found in 2 Corinthians 9:15 (‘Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!’) During the evening, we explored the Christmas story through a variety of readings:

We also had another gift to unwrap:

Each layer revealed a gift that God has given us:

Some of the gifts God has given us were explored:
1) Grace
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”(Ephesians 2:8-9)
We don’t earn God’s grace, but receive it freely as we do with any gift.

2) Eternal life
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
The reason we need a gift from God is because life has been messed up and we can’t find our way back to the God who made us and loves us on our own. Because of the wrongdoing of every person, because there is sin in our hearts even before we actually do anything wrong, what will come to us as a wage, as the rightful consequence of how we live, is death. Christmas shows us the start of God’s rescue plan, the arrival of His Son, Jesus, whose sacrifice for our sins leads us to eternal life.

3) Redemption & forgiveness
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8)
We can be forgiven and can have a new life. Jesus has bought us back, paid a ransom for us, so that we can enter into a new relationship with God without any of the baggage of our old way of life. We are free from sin, completely forgiven by a gracious and loving God.

4) Peace with God
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5:1)
The angels proclaimed “on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” (Luke 2:14) Despite the wars and lack of peace even today, God offers us primarily peace with Him which leads to us becoming peace-makers and spreading that peace in the world around us.

5) Hope
“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)
Romans 15:13 says that God is the God of hope. Because He is the God of hope, He is able to give hope to us. He says we can ‘overflow with hope’. He says that the hope He gives us will not disappoint us or put us to shame (Romans 5:5) That hope goes beyond the now and extends into life beyond this life on earth to eternal life that can never end. Paul says that if we only have hope for this life, we are to be pitied (1 Cor 15:19), but we are reminded in Titus 3:7 that we have the hope of eternal life. The hope God gives us means we never give up or despair, even when things may not seem to be going well for us. The hope of salvation is like a helmet to us (1 Thess 5:8), protecting our minds and thoughts. Christmas is God’s reminder to us that when things seem utterly bleak and without any hope, God is able to step into the situation and change things around. We may not know what 2013 holds for us, but we can enter the New Year with hope because the God of hope is with us.

6) Glory
Ultimately, God just doesn’t give us peace, joy, love and hope. The message of Christmas is that He gives us Himself and that means there is the hope of glorious things to come. Col 1:27 tells us “The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory.” When we receive Christ as Saviour, He comes to live in us. Christmas is all about God’s indescribable gift of Jesus and we were urged to unwrap this gift daily to find out more about the life God gives us and the glorious things He promises us.

The theme of the carol service was ‘Christmas Unwrapped’, so it was only fair that people had presents to unwrap during the service.

God’s gift to us is based on His knowledge of us; He knew we needed a Saviour and couldn’t save ourselves! These presents were also based on personal knowledge!

Mince pies for Mark:

Pringles for the girls:

Maltesers for Gillian (and not for Stephen!):

Stephen did get extra extra hot Peri-peri sauce, though!:

Battenburg cake for Mark:

Mayonnaise for Emily:

A pork pie for our guest bassist, Mark:

A fruit salad for Pat (the healthy option!):

Sweets for the children:

And finally, God’s gift to us all, unwrapped during the sermon:

Last night was our carol service and as always, Mark came up with a range of games to keep the service interactive!

The first game involved ‘Passing the Pud’, instead of the parcel!

When the music stopped, the person unwrapping the pud had to do a forfeit, such as shaking everyone’s hands:

…or giving 5 people a Christmas kiss:

The next gave also involved a Christmas pudding, but this time it had to be eaten, without any form of cutlery!

On your marks!

Get set!

Go!

The winner!

Continuing the Christmas theme, we had a game with Christmas crackers:
Receiving instructions:

Racing for the crackers:

The girls were the winners, with the hats on first.

We also had a Treasure Hunt for silver coins in the community room and then got prizes according to the number on the coin:

Keeping the vision of God’s kingdom alive in our hearts and receiving the joy He gives can only be achieved by surrendering and saying ‘yes’ to God. The Christmas story shows us how Mary and Joseph responded to God’s amazing plan for their lives. Dave looked at the Christmas story again this week (Matt 1:18-25, Luke 1:38). Saying ‘yes’ for Mary involved risking being ostracised by her family and rejected by Joseph, but the risk was worth it, though she must have had to ponder long and hard over the mysteries that were beyond human understanding. The role of Joseph is often overlooked as lacking in importance, but he supported Mary, gave Jesus legitimacy, and nurtured and protected the gift of God’s love.

It can be hard to believe what God tells us. We are often limited by the pain we feel, having been hurt so many times in the past that we find ourselves unwilling to risk accepting love again for fear of further pain and rejection. We have to decide whether pain and suffering have meaning in God; they can either drag us down or draw us closer to God. When we say ‘yes’ to God’s love and to His will, our lives can be transformed.

Christmas time can be incredibly stressful for many people who are weighed down by other people’s expectations and the feeling that reality does not match the idealistic views we have of a time of peace and goodwill. Ultimately, though, we need to understand that all that really matters is saying ‘yes’ to God and making room in our lives for Him. Hope, peace, joy and love are gifts He gives to us, not demands placed upon us. When we surrender to God, He brings order out of chaos and life out of death. Let’s continually surrender to Him and let His will be done, on earth, in our lives, as in heaven.

During the community carol service, Chris Lee from the Salvation Army led a children’s choir:

Children were also involved in tableaux as the Christmas story was narrated and carols were sung:

We are grateful for the links that many churches have to local schools and for the work that they do with Sunday schools and children’s clubs throughout the year. Please pray for these ministries. The Evangelical Alliance has recently published the result of a nationwide survey (entitled ‘Confidently Sharing the Gospel?’, which can be read here), which reminds us of the startling fact that 72% of all evangelical Christians in the UK made a commitment to follow Christ before the age of 20. Even more startling, 32% of girls had made that commitment before the age of 11, with 24% of boys making that commitment before the age of 11. These statistics remind us of the vital importance of children’s and youth ministries in our churches and should be a great incentive (if we need one!) to pray.

Defeated somewhat by the weather (but thankfully still here to tell you all about it!), the community carol service was held in the parish church in Goldthorpe yesterday, rather than outdoors, as originally planned.

Setting up inside took a little time, moving the musical equipment from our church to the parish church:

We rigged a makeshift overhead projector in an unusual place:

Doing sound checks:

Everyone was given glow sticks to acts as lights:

Fr Carl Schaefer introduced the service:

Singing lustily (but not always wanting to be photographed!):

We had a variety of carols, along with participation from a children’s choir from local schools and the Goldthorpe Gospel Choir, ably led by Chris Lee from the Salvation Army. Children also acted in tableaux as the Nativity narratives were read.

Afterwards, there were refreshments in the Parish hall:

All in all, it was an excellent evening of fellowship and witness, and we are grateful to all the church leaders for working together so smoothly to make this a wonderful community Christmas celebration.