Pastor’s Letter – December 25th

Hi Everyone,

As I write this it’s only two sleeps til Christmas!

Our kids are constantly checking the countdown and they’ve got this funny way of trying to make the time as short as it can be. So at 6am today we were informed that there is only one day til Christmas: because today had already started and the two nights don’t count… yes, they’re enjoying the season of waiting! I asked one of them what he was so excited about and he said with a big grin “because we get to celebrate Jesus’ birth… and there are presents.” Now, I’m pretty sure he was genuine about the first part of his answer and the second part was just an afterthought, but then maybe I’m being too optimistic.

There is no doubt that Christmas is an exciting time of anticipation, for all sorts of reasons. However, I’ve been really encouraged this year in reflecting on the way we’re looking forward to more than just a celebration of Jesus’ first coming. As we look back to that momentous occasion and all of its significance, we are also remined that we still look forward with eager anticipation to his second coming. One of my favourite Christmas Carols is ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’. It’s a carol that recognises the world is not as it should be and longs for God to make it new. And in its sense of longing it helps us appreciate just how precious it is that God has indeed come to be with us – the Son of God was born as one of us, to redeem, to bring life, to make new! The Saviour has come, the King now reigns, God is with us! And yet, read the lyrics closely and you’ll see that they also help us express our ongoing longing for Jesus to come again. For God to be with us in the flesh once again. This world remains in the ‘churn’ of the fall and the curse, and we long for the Son of God to come in glory and set all things to rights.

Maybe this Christmas is going according to plan for you, or perhaps this is a time when you’re painfully aware of the ‘churn’ of a fallen world, or maybe like our household Christmas has been upset by COVID yet again! Whatever the case, let’s look back with overflowing thankfulness that Jesus came in the flesh, and look forward with eager anticipation that he’ll come again and make all things new – it’s just that we don’t know how many sleeps it is til that great and glorious day!

In Him,