Garry spoke to us tonight about Christmas carols – rather aptly, since this was a carol service! The first recorded carols were sung about 129 A.D.; a Roman bishop wrote a song called ‘Angels’ Hymn’ which was sung at a Christmas service in Rome. Carols fell out of favour for some years (they were all in Latin, which lost its importance with the decline of Rome), but in 1223, St Francis of Assisi started Nativity plays to tell the Christmas story, complete with songs.

In the UK, the Puritans banned Christmas and disapproved of singing carols, so it was not really until Victorian times, when two men called William Sandys and Davis Gilbert collected lots of old Christmas music from villages in England, that Christmas carols became really popular.

The carols sung at our carol service have much to teach us about God’s Great Rescue Plan. ‘Angels From The Realms of Glory’ (written by Scottish poet James Montgomery) was first printed in the Sheffield Iris in 1816 and tells of the angels announcing the birth of Jesus, telling the story of the shepherds, wise men, saints, sinners and finally all creation worshipping God’s Messiah. Some versions of the carol remind us we’re doomed (‘aye, we’re doomed’, as Private Frazer was wont to say) and desperately need God’s salvation.

‘Joy To The World’ was first published in 1719 by Isaac Watts, with the additional chorus written by Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash and Matt Gilder. In that carol, we read the line that Jesus came to make His blessings flow ‘far as the curse is found’. ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ answers the question as to what the curse is, reminding us that Jesus Christ was born ‘to save our souls from Satan’s pow’r/ When we were gone astray.’ All creation was under sin’s curse and therefore our souls need saving – we have to send an SOS message to God!

‘Once In Royal David’s City’, originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander and published in 1848 and set to music by the English organist Henry John Gauntlett, is always the first carol sung at the service of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge and tells of the effect of His rescue of us: ‘And our eyes at last shall see Him, through His own redeeming love.’ Our SOS call receives an answer, for God has the remedy for our plight.

‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ was written by Phillips Brooks in 1868 and talks of our rescue being effected by the ‘holy child’ who casts out sin and is then ‘born in us.’ ‘Our Lord Emmanuel’ is God with us and lays down His life for us. ‘Our eyes at last shall see Him’ testifies to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and reminds us we no longer need to be doomed; we can experience His mercy and grace.

Our last two carols, ‘Glory In The Highest’ and ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’, are centuries apart historically (the former was written in 2006 by Chris Tomlin, Daniel Carson, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves and Matt Redman, whilst the latter was originally a Latin carol made popular in the 17th century), but both call us to worship God for all He has done for us. We are called to adore Him and sing ‘glory in the highest’ because of all Jesus has done for us in delivering us from sin and giving us eternal life. We truly have a Rescuer to praise and a gospel of good news to share! (‘Rescuer’, Rend Collective)

Tonight saw the return of Mickey, teaching us why the birth of Jesus was so special. We have had 3 babies born this year to church members and each of their births was so very special, but Jesus’ birth is so important because He is the rescuer and deliverer promised by God through the ages, come to save His people from their sins.

‘Rescue from sin’ can be a very abstract concept, however – difficult for us to grasp. So our children dressed up as fire fighters and nurses and doctors so that we could think about how our emergency services work so hard to rescue us when we are in danger. In this case, Mickey was in danger from a fire!

We were relieved to see Mickey rescued and safe and sound and understood more about the importance of having rescuers when we’re in danger.

We had one very happy little girl tonight on the birthday box! I doubt she will ever find this ritual quite as exciting as she did tonight. It’s so lovely to see her enthusiasm.

As well as buns and mince pies, we also enjoyed her birthday cake after the service. Our thanks to Gemma for her skill in decorating cakes.

Stephen spoke this morning on the gift of giving, looking at the shepherds and wise men who brought their gifts and worship to the baby Jesus (Luke 2:15-20, Matt 1:1-2). We often think about giving at Christmas because of these gifts, but really God was the ultimate Giver in giving us Jesus. Paul reminds us that giving should be done generously and not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7) and in giving us Jesus (that ‘indescribable gift‘), we can then have access to all that Jesus gives (hope, love, security, peace, new life, eternal life and so on.) Jesus is effectively God’s total package!

James reminds us that God is a generous giver (see James 1:2-17) and we know that whatever we need, God can and will supply. All His gifts are highly personalised! At Christmas, we think a lot about giving (and receiving), but the shepherds and wise men did not come expecting anything in return. We too need to learn to give as generously and selflessly as they did, for Jesus is God’s ongoing gift – the gift that keeps on giving.

One of the things we forget in our Western obsession to create the ‘perfect’ Christmas for our families is that God is kind. He is not the slave-driver we sometimes make Him out to be, and He is certainly not the one demanding spotlessly clean houses, gourmet-cooked meals four times a day for a whole week, hours of entertainment for all the family and argument-free households! Sometimes, we need to press the ‘pause’ button and relax.

God made the Sabbath for us as a reminder that there’s more to life than work. We need rest, recuperation and time to be with Him. God knows who we are; He knows how we are made. (Ps 103:14-18) As we approach the Christmas holidays, let’s remember that God is kind and rest in that kindness.

Have you ever wondered where the tradition of giving gifts at Christmas originated? Maybe you’re in that frantic state today of having to buy all your Christmas presents on this mad Saturday before Christmas and you wish that no one had ever started the tradition of exchanging gifts. It can be so very difficult finding the right gift for the right person at the right price. Many of us feel overwhelmed before we even start. We want to be whimsical and original, but in our consumer-driven society, it can all just feel too much.

We give gifts ultimately because Christmas is about the biggest gift of all: ‘thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!’ (2 Cor 9:15) God gave Jesus to us: the perfect gift. Gratitude for gifts is not difficult if we receive something we really want or need, and Jesus is the perfect gift to us.

If you don’t find that perfect gift for Great Aunt Lizzie today, don’t fret too much. We often place unreasonable expectations on our shoulders and are sucked into the consumer lie that Christmas is all about presents. It is in some ways: it’s all about the present God gave us in His Son. All the other gifts are nowhere near as important as that.