Here's the video that I showed on Sunday at the Carol Service - the one with the hand bag.
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Monday, 21 December 2015
Advent - week 4
Yesterday was the fourth and final Sunday in Advent - it was also our Carol Service here at CBC.
So far in this mini series of Advent posts we have briefly looked at the themes of hope, peace and joy. To complete the set we need to focus on love.
Certainly at Christmas time these are themes that are not exclusively linked to people of faith - they are seen as attainable seasonal ideals within our wider culture. You only need to watch a few Christmas adverts, or watch a few Christmas films to know that our society is looking for hope, joy, peace and love at this time of year.
And it expects to be able to find it. But as the wise men discovered - you won't find what you're looking for unless you're looking in the right place.
Presumably, this advert from John Lewis, is encouraging us to show someone that they are loved this Christmas by sending a gift - but the Man on the Moon is still alone at the end of the advert. He now knows that someone knows he exists - but he is still alone.
Part of the good news of great joy of Christmas is that we are no longer alone. Jesus was given the name Emmanuel - which means 'God with us'. And whilst sin separates us from God - Christmas reminds us that God came to earth to be born as a little baby, in order to make it possible for the divide between us and God to be bridged.
God didn't just send a gift - he came himself. And he promises to be with us what ever it is that we're going through this Christmas. He doesn't just see it from far off - he walks the road with us.
God demonstrates his love for us by coming to earth to live with us and ultimately to die for us - not by sending a gift to show us that he's thinking of us.
So far in this mini series of Advent posts we have briefly looked at the themes of hope, peace and joy. To complete the set we need to focus on love.
Certainly at Christmas time these are themes that are not exclusively linked to people of faith - they are seen as attainable seasonal ideals within our wider culture. You only need to watch a few Christmas adverts, or watch a few Christmas films to know that our society is looking for hope, joy, peace and love at this time of year.
And it expects to be able to find it. But as the wise men discovered - you won't find what you're looking for unless you're looking in the right place.
Presumably, this advert from John Lewis, is encouraging us to show someone that they are loved this Christmas by sending a gift - but the Man on the Moon is still alone at the end of the advert. He now knows that someone knows he exists - but he is still alone.
Part of the good news of great joy of Christmas is that we are no longer alone. Jesus was given the name Emmanuel - which means 'God with us'. And whilst sin separates us from God - Christmas reminds us that God came to earth to be born as a little baby, in order to make it possible for the divide between us and God to be bridged.
God didn't just send a gift - he came himself. And he promises to be with us what ever it is that we're going through this Christmas. He doesn't just see it from far off - he walks the road with us.
God demonstrates his love for us by coming to earth to live with us and ultimately to die for us - not by sending a gift to show us that he's thinking of us.
Saturday, 19 December 2015
Reading the Bible in 2016
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about The Bible Project's 'Read Scripture' reading plan and video resources.
Here's another little video that they have released to explain what they're doing and why you might want to be involved.
If you want to find out how to download a printer friendly reading plan and sign up to their email alerts you'll need to click here.
One of our seven core values at CBC is that we are biblical. We will only encounter God in the pages of the Bible if we read it - which is one of the reasons it is so hard at times - the enemy will do anything to make sure that our Bibles stay closed. If you're looking for a Bible reading programme for the coming year, and want to read through the whole Bible, this looks a really good resource, and the videos are going to be a great help to understanding some of the more challenging books in the Bible as well as offering the occasional nudge and encouragement to keep going.
Another of our core values is that we are prayerful. One of the things that excites me most about this programme is the way it wants to develop the daily habit of praying through the Psalms.
Our vision talks about becoming a ...community... My experience is that when I have taken part in a through the Bible reading programme in the past, I have benefited most when I have done it with other people. If you're a part of CBC and wanting to follow this programme I'd encourage you to sign up to do it with others. If you're not a part of CBC then find someone who lives near you to do it with - or get in touch and we can think about setting up a virtual group.
Here's another little video that they have released to explain what they're doing and why you might want to be involved.
If you want to find out how to download a printer friendly reading plan and sign up to their email alerts you'll need to click here.
One of our seven core values at CBC is that we are biblical. We will only encounter God in the pages of the Bible if we read it - which is one of the reasons it is so hard at times - the enemy will do anything to make sure that our Bibles stay closed. If you're looking for a Bible reading programme for the coming year, and want to read through the whole Bible, this looks a really good resource, and the videos are going to be a great help to understanding some of the more challenging books in the Bible as well as offering the occasional nudge and encouragement to keep going.
Another of our core values is that we are prayerful. One of the things that excites me most about this programme is the way it wants to develop the daily habit of praying through the Psalms.
Our vision talks about becoming a ...community... My experience is that when I have taken part in a through the Bible reading programme in the past, I have benefited most when I have done it with other people. If you're a part of CBC and wanting to follow this programme I'd encourage you to sign up to do it with others. If you're not a part of CBC then find someone who lives near you to do it with - or get in touch and we can think about setting up a virtual group.
Friday, 18 December 2015
Which is the odd one out?
Which is the odd one out? That's the question I asked at this morning's school Carol Service.
Predictably most of the children, I reckon about 80%, went for Father Christmas - knowing that the big guy dressed in red probably didn't make an appearance in the Bible story, whereas the other five probably have something to do with the 'real' meaning of Christmas.
But the correct answer is not Father Christmas. The correct answer is the manger.
Of these six images only the manger is mentioned in the Bible account of the Christmas story.
Surprising?
We then went on to talk about other surprises in the Christmas story.
Mary was a surprising choice for such an important role, a peasant girl in a small village.
The shepherds were a surprising choice as the first to hear about Jesus and the first to tell others. If you wanted a popular and reliable witness you certainly didn't ask a first century shepherd.
The 'wise men' - really they were astrologers and we don't know how many of them there were - were surprised. They turned up in the capital city at the palace looking for this new born king but found the young boy living about 5 miles away in poverty in a little house.
But the biggest surprise in the story? That it happened - that God came as a baby, to be born into poverty, to grow up and about thirty years later, to die - to demonstrate God's love for me. That's the biggest surprise in this story - that God loves us.
Feel free to stop reading at this point - that's a summary of the assembly - but if you're interested in knowing a bit more about the donkey or the stable then you might like to read on.
For some of us it might come as quite a surprise to find out that none of the other five are part of the original story. Father Christmas - obviously isn't.
Most of us probably know that 25th December isn't Jesus' actual birthday but instead was chosen as the 3rd/4th century church took over a pagan festival. Depending on what you read you get different details about when and which festival but many have links to the winter solstice, to light, marking the shortest day in the year and the 'rebirth' of the sun. Given John's comments about Jesus being the 'light of the world', and 'the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it' this would seem a good choice. We have no idea as to Jesus' actual birthday - but not many peasant boys did back then. [It is also true that no where in the New Testament are we told to celebrate Jesus' birth - whereas we are told to remember and commemorate his death - but that's a whole different post.]
So the donkey - surely there was a donkey. How did Mary get to Bethlehem if not on a 'Little donkey, little donkey'? She may have gone by donkey, she may have had to walk. But walking 70 miles at 9 months pregnant? (I'm guessing 70 miles on the back of a donkey wouldn't be much fun either.) But where does it say that Mary gave birth within hours of arriving in Bethlehem, following a desperate search for somewhere to stay? They could have been there for weeks before Jesus was born. But there is no mention of a donkey.
But the stable and the inn keeper - surely they're a part of the story? Sorry - but not necessarily.
If you have a modern translation of Luke 2:7 you'll see that there was no 'guest room' available for Mary and Joseph - rather than older translations which talk of there being no place at the 'inn'. The word translated guest room/inn is only used in one other context in the New Testament - to talk about the guest room where Jesus ate the last supper with his disciples. When the good Samaritan takes the injured man to an inn - that's a different word altogether. So Mary and Joseph were probably staying with relatives, but because there was no other available space in the house they were staying in the part of the house where the animals were kept during the night - hence the reason for the manger. The animals would have been kept inside the house at night in order to keep them safe from harm.
But - there is a lot that we simply don't know about Jesus' birth - we are simply not told. And a lot that we think we do know comes from Christmas cards or Christmas Carols, rather than the New Testament.
But what we do know is that Jesus was born in order to save us from our sins. We know that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus. That's the real surprise of the story.
Predictably most of the children, I reckon about 80%, went for Father Christmas - knowing that the big guy dressed in red probably didn't make an appearance in the Bible story, whereas the other five probably have something to do with the 'real' meaning of Christmas.
But the correct answer is not Father Christmas. The correct answer is the manger.
Of these six images only the manger is mentioned in the Bible account of the Christmas story.
Surprising?
We then went on to talk about other surprises in the Christmas story.
Mary was a surprising choice for such an important role, a peasant girl in a small village.
The shepherds were a surprising choice as the first to hear about Jesus and the first to tell others. If you wanted a popular and reliable witness you certainly didn't ask a first century shepherd.
The 'wise men' - really they were astrologers and we don't know how many of them there were - were surprised. They turned up in the capital city at the palace looking for this new born king but found the young boy living about 5 miles away in poverty in a little house.
But the biggest surprise in the story? That it happened - that God came as a baby, to be born into poverty, to grow up and about thirty years later, to die - to demonstrate God's love for me. That's the biggest surprise in this story - that God loves us.
Feel free to stop reading at this point - that's a summary of the assembly - but if you're interested in knowing a bit more about the donkey or the stable then you might like to read on.
For some of us it might come as quite a surprise to find out that none of the other five are part of the original story. Father Christmas - obviously isn't.
Most of us probably know that 25th December isn't Jesus' actual birthday but instead was chosen as the 3rd/4th century church took over a pagan festival. Depending on what you read you get different details about when and which festival but many have links to the winter solstice, to light, marking the shortest day in the year and the 'rebirth' of the sun. Given John's comments about Jesus being the 'light of the world', and 'the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it' this would seem a good choice. We have no idea as to Jesus' actual birthday - but not many peasant boys did back then. [It is also true that no where in the New Testament are we told to celebrate Jesus' birth - whereas we are told to remember and commemorate his death - but that's a whole different post.]
So the donkey - surely there was a donkey. How did Mary get to Bethlehem if not on a 'Little donkey, little donkey'? She may have gone by donkey, she may have had to walk. But walking 70 miles at 9 months pregnant? (I'm guessing 70 miles on the back of a donkey wouldn't be much fun either.) But where does it say that Mary gave birth within hours of arriving in Bethlehem, following a desperate search for somewhere to stay? They could have been there for weeks before Jesus was born. But there is no mention of a donkey.
But the stable and the inn keeper - surely they're a part of the story? Sorry - but not necessarily.
If you have a modern translation of Luke 2:7 you'll see that there was no 'guest room' available for Mary and Joseph - rather than older translations which talk of there being no place at the 'inn'. The word translated guest room/inn is only used in one other context in the New Testament - to talk about the guest room where Jesus ate the last supper with his disciples. When the good Samaritan takes the injured man to an inn - that's a different word altogether. So Mary and Joseph were probably staying with relatives, but because there was no other available space in the house they were staying in the part of the house where the animals were kept during the night - hence the reason for the manger. The animals would have been kept inside the house at night in order to keep them safe from harm.
But - there is a lot that we simply don't know about Jesus' birth - we are simply not told. And a lot that we think we do know comes from Christmas cards or Christmas Carols, rather than the New Testament.
But what we do know is that Jesus was born in order to save us from our sins. We know that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus. That's the real surprise of the story.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)