Saturday, December 30, 2006

Matthew 2:1-12 After Christmas

Sermon for first Sunday after Christmas, again based on 'Getting it Across' by Nick Fawcett.

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Props:

Image of nativity scene without wise men.
Leftovers from Christmas – deflated balloon, a pulled cracker, a discarded wrapping paper, etc

Talk:


Begin by asking the congregation questions such as: How many days of Christmas are there? How many of you are still celebrating Christmas? What sort of Christmas did you have?

After all the build up, Christmas is over all too soon, and for many each year it seems to be a bit of a let-down; like a deflated balloon, a pulled cracker, or a discarded piece of wrapping paper (show examples). But, while Christmas itself is over, what it celebrates is not finished! Point to the picture on the projector, and ask the congregation what is missing. When they spot that the wise men aren’t there, ask them if they have any idea why not.

Although we think of the wise men as an essential part of the Christmas story, it is almost certain that they arrived in Bethlehem some time after the birth of Jesus, well after the shepherds had been and gone. And there must have been times on their long journey when they wondered whether, when they finally made it to their destination it would be too late, the event they had come to see long over and done with.

But although what we might call the first Christmas was over when they eventually arrived, the truth behind it, and the reason we continue to celebrate this festival, was as real as ever! Jesus had been born in Bethlehem – the King of the Jews, the Saviour of the world – and so they fell down and worshipped him and celebrated. And, no doubt those few moments with Jesus must have lived with them for the rest of their lives.

So it is for us today. Christmas may be over, but our worship and thanksgiving continues; for the truth we have celebrated goes on being as meaningful and relevant today, tomorrow and every day. God has come among us in Jesus, he has shared our humanity, he has opened up the way of life, he is by our side through his Holy Spirit. And he will go on being with us for all eternity. Thanks be to God!

Where is He?

Christmas morning talk, taken from 'Getting it Across' by Nick Fawcett, published by Kevin Mayhew.

Preparation:

Fold 8 A4 pieces of paper to make A5 cards. On front of these write the following words in bold letters:

JUDEA
BETHLEHEM
MANGER
STABLE
HOUSE
NAZARETH
JERUSALEM
EGYPT

On inside of each card, write ‘NOT HERE’. Place cards around front of church – where they can be seen.

Prepare 8 A4 pieces of paper wit one of the following written in large letters, E I H H S R E E

Talk:

Ask the congregation if anyone can remember what the wise men asked Herod when they came to Jerusalem? (Where is the one born King of the Jews?) Explain that I want to look at this question today, and I need 8 volunteers to come to the front – get them to hold one of the letters E, I, H, H, S, R, E, E,)

Invite each volunteer in turn to look behind one of the cards to discover where ‘The King of the Jews’ has been born. After each unsuccessful attempt ask the volunteer to display the words inside – NOT HERE. And to stand at the front of the church until all 8 volunteers are standing side by side in a line.

Observe that, despite the volunteers help, you question remains unanswered. Ask the congregation to look again very carefully, and see whether they might have missed something. Allow time for people to think, then line the volunteers up so that the letters pinned on their fronts spell ‘HE IS HERE’.

That’s the answer to our question. Or is it? Well, not quite, for it all depends on what comes after these words. (Position yourself at the end of the line). Is it a question mark (hold up ?) or is it an exclamation mark (hold up !)?

We all know Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea; we all know he was born in a stable and laid in a manger, because there was no room in the inn; we all know his parents came from Nazareth, and that they took Jesus later to Jerusalem; and we probably know that after Jesus’ birth they fled to Egypt to escape Herod.

All that is part of the wonderful Christmas story we know and love so well. But unless there’s another chapter in that story, then all the rest doesn’t finally mean anything. It’s only when Jesus can also be found here in our hearts, in our lives, in each one of us, that Christmas truly comes alive.

Where is the one born King of the Jews? Is he simply here (point to one of the cards) or here (point to one of the volunteers), or here (point to the congregation)? Or can we point to ourselves and say honestly and without hesitation, ‘Here is here!’

That’s the question we need to ask this Christmas, and the answer we need to give.

Christingle Talk 2006

This talk was taken from 'Getting it Across' written by Nick Fawcett and published by Kevin Mayhew.

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Today I have prepared a festive quiz for you. All the answers have ‘Christmas’ in them, and all you have to do is supply the missing word from the clues I am going to give you.

1 Something we eat after Christmas turkey? Pudding
2 Songs we sing at Christmas? Carol
3 Buying in food and presents for Christmas? Shopping
4 Something we send to our friends? Card
5 Comes after Christmas Eve? Day
6 A special festive occasion we might enjoy at work, school or home? Party
7 Something we hang up before going to bed on Christmas Eve? Stocking
8 Something we bring into the house and cover in lights and decorations? Tree
9 Someone who comes down the chimney bringing presents? Father
10 Comes before Christmas Day? Eve
11 Things we give to family and friends? Presents
12 Something we pull at Christmas? Cracker
13 What we call Christmas when it snows? White
14 Extra pay we may be lucky enough to receive at Christmas? Bonus
15 Things we hang on trees or round rooms and shops? Decorations
16 A fund raising event we may hold at church? Fayre
17 What we tuck into as part of our celebrations? Dinner
18 Something else we may eat at Christmas? Cake
19 A plant that flowers around Christmas time? Cacti
20 Something we use to cover our presents before we give them? Wrapping paper
21 Something we put on the Christmas tree, or which we might see in a town centre? Lights

All these things together go to make up our celebrations of Christmas; all kinds of
things which we will be enjoying over this season. And there is no reason why we shouldn’t have a good time and enjoy them all.

But are they really what Christmas is all about? The answer of course is no, but there is a danger if we focus on them too much they may hid the true message of Christmas. In fact, they have just done that. Has anyone spotted the true message of Christmas hidden within the answers – Glory to the New Born King’

These are words we sing in the great carol, Hark the Herald angels sing, and words which take us to the heart of Christmas – not presents or turkey or cards or pudding, special though these may be, but the birth of Jesus Christ, the son of God, the one who reveals the glory of God and shows his love for the world.

The Hope of Christmas

A few days before Christmas, my grandfather passed away peacefully at home, after a long illness. Drawing on this experience, I preached the following sermon on Christmas Eve, to talk about the real hope of Christmas.

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Earlier this week my grandfather passed away. He had been unwell for a couple of years, and over the last few months had been cared for by mother at home. On Thursday morning I received a phone call from my father to inform me that my grandfather’s health had suddenly deteriorated. By the time Beata and I reached my parents home near Stoke, my grandfather had died.

My grandfather has been a Christian all his life, and always had a strong faith. Shortly before he died, my father was able to pray with him and administer the last rites. My grandfather was able to join in with the prayers and responses, and died peacefully half an hour later surrounded by his family.

The death of my grandfather made me think again about the significance of Christmas, and why it is so important. Jesus came into the world, to bring us the hope of everlasting life. In Scripture, hope is not wishful thinking that everything is going to be all right, it is an assurance based on the promises of God. As Christians we do not need to be afraid of death, because we know that death is not the end of our journey, but only the beginning. As one person expressed it, “Death is not extinguishing the light from the Christian; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”

We are able to have this assurance, because God came into the world as one of us, to reveal his love to us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) This is why Christmas is such an important celebration.

In the news this week it revealed what are the most popular names at present. For boys the top names are Jack, Joshua and Thomas, and for girls it is Emily, Ellie and Jessica. When Beata and I were choosing names for Tomek and Adam, are main consideration was whether we like the sound of the name or not, and that our family in Britain and Poland could pronounce their names, we didn’t give much consideration to what the names actually mean. But in the Bible names are highly significant, and the names given to Jesus reveal something very important about him.
The name Jesus for example means ‘God Saves’. Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins. If Jesus had not been born, we would still be left struggling to find our own way to God, without any real reassurance that we were on the right track. If Jesus had not come into the world, we would still be living under the condemnation of sin, but with no hope of a way out. If Jesus had not been born, then there could not be assurance in death. But God did come into the world in Jesus, and that through his death on the cross Jesus became the one perfect sacrifice that takes away sin, and opens to us the gates of heaven. And so, in the words of Hebrews, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)
1 Peter 3:18 reminds us that “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

Without the birth of Jesus, there could be no hope for forgiveness, no new life, only judgement and condemnation.
There would be nothing to comfort and encourage us.
There would be no assurance for the future.
There would be no Holy Spirit, to live inside us, and to teach and guide us through live, and we would not have Jesus’ own example to live by.

The other name that Jesus was given was Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us’. None of us had any choice in the matter of how and where we were born. But God had a choice, and he chose a rough stable, a young teenage mother, from a very ordinary family, from a very ordinary town. Mary herself recognises this in her great hymn of praise, the Magnificat. "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” (Luke 1:46-48)

And when the angels announced his birth, they didn’t go to the kings and rulers, but went to shepherds out in the fields. Being a shepherd was considered a very lowly job, and shepherds were not considered reliable witnesses in Jewish society. They lived outdoors, amongst the unclean wild animals. But yet it is these people, those on the very margins of society, to whom God chooses to announce the birth of Jesus, ordinary people, like you and me.

The fact that Jesus was willing to live as one of us, facing the same hardships and difficulties we face is incredible. In Philippians 2:5-8 we are reminded that our “attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

He experienced the pain, suffering and hurt that we all face as human beings, including the pain of bereavement. He did it in order to heal the breach which separated humanity from God.
Imagine what the world would be like if Jesus had not been born? When we begin to think just what this Christmas story means, we realise just how much we have to be thankful for. God was born as a human baby and entered time and space—clothing Himself in flesh—to serve weak and failing human beings. He came to do for us what only He could do: to save us in every meaningful sense of the word.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

If Jesus was born today

If Jesus was born today it would be in a downtown motel marked by a helicopter's flashing bulb. A traffic warden, working late,would be the first upon the scene.Later, at the expense of a TV network,an eminent sociologist,the host of a chat show and a controversial author would arrive with their good wishes-the whole occasion to be filmed as part of the 'Is This The Son Of God?' one hour special.Childhood would be a blur of photographs and speculation dwindling by his late teens into 'Where Is He Now?' features in Sunday magazines.

If Jesus was thirty today they wouldn't really care about the public ministry,they'd be too busy investigating His finances and trying to prove He had Church or Mafia connections.The miracles would be explained by an eminent and controversial magician,His claims to be God's Son recognised as excellent examples of Spoken English and immediately incorporated into the A-Level syllabus,His sinless perfection considered by moral philosophers as, OK, but a bit repressive.

If Jesus was thirty-one today He'd be the fly in everyone's ointment-the sort of controversial person who stands no chance of eminence.Communists would expel Him, capitalists would exploit Him or have Him smeared by people who know a thing or two about God.Doctors would accuse Him of quackery,soldiers would accuse Him of cowardice,theologians would take Him aside and try to persuade Him of His non-existence.

If Jesus was thirty-two today we'd have to end it all. Heretic, fundamentalist, literalist,puritan, pacifist, non-conformist, we'd take Him away and quietly end the argument.But the argument would rumble in the ground at the end of three days and would break outa nd walk around as though death was some bug, saying 'I am the resurrection and the life...No man cometh to the Father but by me'.While the magicians researched new explanations and the semanticists wondered exactly what He meant by 'I' and 'No man' there would be those who stand around amused, asking for something called proof.

by Steve Turner

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

What Christmas Means For Me

This is the address I gave at our recent Carols by Candlelight Service. During the service I wanted people to reflect not only upon the nativity story, but also to explore what it means to be a Christian in today's society.

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For so many people Christmas has become a commercial festival, and the real meaning and significance of this time of year has been lost. For example, in Britain we will have spent up to £20 billion this December on credit and debit cards. I was talking to one lady on Friday who works for a well known bank, that 95% of the customers who come into the bank complain about the growing cost of Christmas. Is this really what it’s all about?

On average we gain 5 to 6 lbs in weight over the Christmas period. And on Christmas day itself we can consume as much as 6000 calories. Is this really what it’s all about?

Each year, we hear about attempts to play down the religious elements of this festival. In this weeks Walsall Chronicle it rang an article about the Bishop of Lichfield, Jonathan Gledhill who in his Christmas message has attacked a report calling on businesses and councils to use decorations that are ‘secular and not inherently religious’ to avoid offending non Christians. And the Chronicle finishes the article with a question. “Should Christmas be an overtly Christian festival or should it be toned down to avoid offending other faiths.”

I have to confess, going around the shops in Walsall looking for Christmas cards with have a religious theme, is getting increasingly difficult. If I want a picture of Father Christmas, reindeer's, Robins, Christmas trees, then that is fine, but it is a lot harder to find a card with a religious theme. The Daily Mail reported last week that only one out of every 100 Christmas cards sold in Britain contains a religious image.

What is happening is that slowly, bit by bit, Christ is being taken out of Christmas. And when we do that, what are we left with, apart from indigestion and debt!

I personally love the parties, and the food and I also enjoy receiving gifts! But that is NOT what makes Christmas special for me. What makes Christmas so special is celebrating the birth of Christ. It is the knowledge that God didn’t stand by watching the world get further and further into mess, but that he decided to come down into it, and to live on earth as one of us.

Christian art has made the nativity scene gloriously hygienic. But the truth is, the stable or cave where Jesus was born would have been smelly, dirty and untidy. This is what life is often like. Life is messy, rather than neat, orderly and safe. And that speaks to me a great deal, God choose to enter into the mess of this world, to reveal his love for you and me. God has come into the mess and confusion of my life, to reveal to me how much he loves me. And that is why Christmas is so special for me.

I would like to say that I have got everything sorted in life, but I haven’t. I would like to say that I had the most intimate relationship with God, but I don’t. I would like to say that I am always the person God wants me to be, but I’m not. But I cannot imagine my life without God. Christmas reminds me that I don’t have to be perfect for God to love me, I don’t have to have everything sorted in my life in order to be a Christian, because God loves me for who I am, as well as helping me become the person he always intended me to be.

This is why I love Christmas, because it reminds me just how much God loves me, and every single one of us. My message to you today, is don’t ignore the gift of God’s love that he offers you today. When all the Christmas celebrations are over, don’t put Jesus away with the decorations. Because if you do, you will be missing out on the most wonderful thing anyone of us can ever experience. A relationship with God.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Bishop Jonathan's Christmas Message

I enjoyed the switching on of the Christmas lights in Stafford market place this year. It must be the child in me but the sparkling coloured lights and the smell of roasting chestnuts stirs up a sense of wonder and delight.

Stafford Council bravely purchased some new crib figures this year, rather going against the trend of multi-faith everything. But then only a tiny minority among us wants either a mish-mash of beliefs or an empty manger. Most of our Muslim, Sikh or Jewish neighbours are glad to be in a Christian country where they respect our faith and we respect theirs, and they seem to wish we Christians were a bit more up-front about our beliefs.

So the crib-set in Stafford set me thinking about the market place in our secular society. Originally the king granted a licence for a town to hold a market and the sheriff guaranteed law and order. A market where you could freely and safely buy and sell was a big step-up from robber barons taking half your produce. But there were problems if one of the stall holders bought up the market and made life difficult for rival traders. So in today's world there may be problems with monopolies or if private firms are allowed to purchase the stock-exchange, unless the government is very careful to provide regulators, the modern equivalent of the sheriff.

What about the market place in ideas? When St Paul visited Athens he was able, as a foreigner, to bring his ideas freely to the Athenian Market place and to argue with the locals, both sceptics and followers of various faiths. The whole point of Christmas is that Love is offered by God in the form of a gift than can be accepted or ignored. It is the amazing mystery of Christmas that we are free to respond as we will.

It is because of this that freedom of speech and allowing people to present the truth as they see it is such an important feature of modern Christian democracy. It is part of the role of government to provide open spaces - a kind of secular market place if you like - for people to test out the rival truth claims and ideologies of our time.In that sense a Christian country is also a secular one. But that does not mean that a free country must be one where religion is only a private matter and the public square remains empty of the baby Jesus. An empty square is impossible anyway. All governance rests on values and values are in the end a matter of faith. Different religions have different values and teachings and these need evaluating, not mixing up. England became a nation because the missionaries long ago persuaded our pagan chieftains and kings that the rule of the Prince of Peace was preferable to constant war and banditry. The Christian faith became "by law established" because it was through the teachings of Christ that we got our rule of law.

So it is good to have a debate and a market place of ideas but the market place cannot be left empty for the whole year. If we don't put the very best of our spiritual values in the centre of public life, less good values will find their way in. Nature abhors a vacuum. My prayer is that, just as Stafford Council has decided to invest in a new crib-set in its market place at the centre of things, so the people of this country will make room in their hearts for the gift of Love come down at Christmas. "And the government shall be upon his shoulder."

A very merry Christmas!

Jonathan Gledhill
Bishop of Lichfield
5th December 2006

Monday, December 04, 2006

The Symbols of Baptism

This talk was given on Advent Sunday, which also included the baptism of a five year old girl.

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Today is Advent Sunday, and it marks the start of the new Christian year. And like Advent, baptism marks a new beginning, because it marks a new stage in our journey with God.

There is a lot of symbolism in baptism, which act as a way of reminding us about what the Christian life is all about, the cross, water and light.

The Cross – When we are baptised we receive the sign of the cross on our foreheads.

The Cross is the badge of the Christian faith. Here in St Martin’s we have a large cross on our wall, and it is there to remind us that Jesus died for you and me. We all fall short of God’s standards, we all do things which we know hurt God. We call this sin. And what our sin does, is create a barrier between us and God. Paul in his letter to the Romans writes that the consequence of sin is death, it means being cut off from God’s love for eternity. But because God loves us so much, he didn’t want us to suffer this death, so instead he choose to die for us, taking on himself our guilt, so that we might live. And so through Jesus’ death we have the chance of a fresh start.

Here in St Martin’s our cross is empty, this reminds us that Jesus didn’t stay dead for long, but that he is alive today, and that we can meet him.

So in baptism we make the sign of the cross on the forehead to remind us that Jesus died for us.

Water - Without water none of us would survive for very long. There could be no life without water. And in baptism, water reminds us that it is God who gives us life. Jesus said that he came to bring us life in all its fullness. And one of the things that baptism symbolises is the new life we have when we become Christians. Baptism is also a symbol of death, as we go into the waters of baptism it symbolises going into the grave, dying to the old way of life, a life without God, a life of sin, and as we are brought up out of the water, it is a symbol of being raised to new life, starting a fresh with Jesus. And that is why when we pray over the water, we say ‘We thank you Father, for the water of baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. And through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.'

The other thing that we use water for is cleansing. We use water to wash ourselves and our clothes so we can stay nice and clean. And in baptism we are cleansed from our sins, it is as though they are washed away, so that through Jesus’ death on the cross we are made clean.

Light - The final symbol in baptism is the giving of a lighted candle. Light, like water, is essential for life. Without light there could be no life on this planet. Also light is essential if we are to see where we are going. It can be very scary and difficult walking down a road at night on a pitch black night, where you can’t see what is in front of you.

Jesus said that he ‘is the light of the world’, in other words he is the one who guides us in life. And as Christians, we look to Jesus to show us how to live our lives. He is the one who guides us.

Jesus also said that as his followers, we also are like lights in the world. We are meant to carry the light of Christ out into our world, to our homes, schools, and work places, by demonstrating to others the love of God.

At the end of the baptism service we receive a candle, and we will say these words. 'God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and has given us a place with the saints in light. You have received this light of Christ, walk in the light all the days of your life. Shine as a light in the world, to the glory of God the Father'.

(And once the light of Christ has been lit, nothing can ever put it out (as a visual illustration of this I used a relighting candle that reignites whenever it is blown out)

Conclusion

So as you can see baptism is full of significance and symbolism. As N is baptised lets reflect on what our own baptism means for us. To think again about why the cross is important, to reflect on the love God has for each one of us. To think about how through the waters of baptism we are cleansed and given new life, and how as Christians we have received Christ’s light into our live.

And I’m going to invite you, as you come up to receive communion to splash yourself with some of the water in this font, to remind yourself of your own baptism, and recommit yourself to serve and follow God. So that you may also carry his light out into the world. Amen.