We're just 10 days away from the big day... so hears something for you to think about, this is some of what I said to the Uniformed Organisations and their parents tonight.
"All of these children have expectations on their lives. Harper is expected to be glamorous, well
dressed and sophisticated, like her mum when she grows up and Charlie, he’s got
his school and his new club hoping that his skill will carry him though the
ranks to an England player. And Jesus? Like Harper Seven, before he was born a
lot was written about him, but unlike Harper, those things were written
hundreds of years before His birth. He was born with the world on His
shoulders. Much like Harper
Seven and Charlie, Jesus made headline news. We have sung about angels
announcing his arrival to shepherds in
the fields, and what is more exciting than that? Like Charlie, He really did come out of nowhere and gained a
whole lot of publicity in a very short
amount of time; for someone so young, he had a king after him and people
from all walks of life bringing him presents.
Whatever you are expecting at this time of year, please
don’t forget that the reason it all started was because one little baby was
born, with the world watching on. Jesus was a very special baby.
Jesus is
dressed as Santa and the line is ‘Go on, ask him for something this Christmas’.
Maybe there is something you can ask for, it might be one of those special
things I asked about earlier.
Little Harper
and Charlie won’t be able to help you with the bigger things this Christmas,
maybe not with the smallest things either – Harper is not even a year old and
Charlie, well, he’s just started school, but Jesus is the one we can go to for
help.
I don’t know
if you heard the lyrics of the John Lewis advert, they are really sad – ‘The
luck I’ve had can make a good man turn bad, Please let me get what I want, Lord
knows, it would be the first time’.
Sometimes life isn’t how we want it to be, but we can pray to Jesus to
say thank you for what we get, sorry for the wrong things we do and please for
things we need help or are struggling with and He will answer our prayers,
often in ways that are unexpected. For a lot of your leaders – they have been
praying for new leaders, and they got me this year, so I am an answer to
prayer, but perhaps not the one they expected!
But what ever
you ask for remember this year that Jesus is ’God with us’ and He was a very
special gift that God could not wait to give to us."
There is a power point to go with it - if you haven't seen the John Lewis Advert, you can watch it here.
But the message is simple this Christmas, remember that God is with us, for all that has been and all that will be, with you and those you love. God loves you for the you of you, and whatever you are expecting or whatever is expected of you, don't forget the reason that we're celebrating.
There is a power point to go with it - if you haven't seen the John Lewis Advert, you can watch it here.
But the message is simple this Christmas, remember that God is with us, for all that has been and all that will be, with you and those you love. God loves you for the you of you, and whatever you are expecting or whatever is expected of you, don't forget the reason that we're celebrating.
10 comments:
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If god couldnt wait to give us jesus then why did he wait 100,00 years?
and if he could wait that long why not wait just another 2000 years where we could prove beyond doubt he exists and also convince more than just 1/4 of the world by spreading his message to more than just a few wondering jews in the desert.
but he couldnt even convince everyone he met at the time!
I'm not sure I understand your point.
Also, the Jews wandering in the desert numbered in the 100,000's.
@liz well humans evolved into our current form around 100,000 years ago (unless you believe we were created out 6000 years ago) so god waited 98,000 years to send jesus.
why not wait an extra 2,000 and put him on tv.
well apart from there being no evidence outside of the bible that this event actually happened why were there plenty who met jesus and spoke to him that didnt believe him. you believe in him based on an ancient bronze-age book yet some people who met him and spoke to him didnt? if i was god in amongst my creations you would be damn sure they would all believe it.
"if i was god in amongst my creations you would be damn sure they would all believe it."
Let me just pull out my copy of 1984 and make a comparison to your logic.
I thank God that you are not god, because I like the fact that we can both exhibit free will.
@liz what i meant by that was not that i would force anyone to worship me, but that i would put it beyond doubt that i was god. id also like to note that i wouldnt ask them to worship me, and in fact if i was god i wouldnt want anyone to worship me. its a bit egotistical.
its a shame i havent had at least the chance to put my case forward for being god. i reckon i could do a better job.
i wouldnt blame humans for original sin, i wouldnt hold everyone to it, i wouldnt send people to hell for not believing me, i wouldnt discriminate against gays or women, you can work on a sunday, eat pork, drink and be merry. it would be a lot of fun.
you didnt really answer any of my questions though, you just pulled out a quote you didnt like and opposed it, even though you got the meaning wrong and i wasnt as clear as i should have been.
any answer to the waiting another 2000 years bit? i would like to know what the official stance is on that, im not sure i can think of a legitimate reason.
No-one can claim to know all the answers, however Christians do believe that God's timing is perfect. There's something hugely significant about the time that God waited. 430 years of silence from the end of the OT to the beginning of Jesus' ministry is the same as the amount of time the 100,000's Jews spent in exile.
God doesn't discriminate - that is a human failing, reading the whole Bible from cover to cover, the bigger picture becomes apparent as to why God says no about certain things. He often gave advice on medical grounds and for purposes of knowing how humans work from the inside out.
Jews will take Friday evening til Sunday morning off - a brilliant way to recharge before another working week.
Christians have a lot of fun, we understand what we can and the reasons why.
I hope your questions do get answered, maybe by me, by others and that you can see that we're all trying to discover the truth about faith and life.
@liz, well the timing makes sense if the stories in the bible are true but considering there is no historical or archaeological evidence that any of exodus happened it would seem that the dates match up because they were invented.
im not sure how perfect the timing is for sending jesus to the bronze age. he may have helped out the jews then but what about the billions who havent made it heaven before or since?
there is plenty of discrimination in the bible: women, gays, slaves and anyone who doesnt believe in god. are you saying the millions who are killed in the bible werent discriminated against?
why does god say no to being gay? why does he say no to coveting (after all its the basis for capatalism)?
why does he say yes to slavery? why does he say yes to murder?
i would like to know the "advice" god gives on medical grounds. most modern day examples are faith healing, where christians are discouraged from taking medicine in favour of prayer and many often die as a result.
I think the 13+ million Jews would have something to say about you saying their ancestry and strong oral tradition is all made up!
When you read the law books (first 5 of the OT) it says a lot about all of those things you have asked about.
God's medical advice is about being clean and sensible, if you lived with 100,000's of others in the desert, wouldn't you want some rules about cleanliness?
God said a huge no to slavery in the beginning - He got His people out of Egypt, and when there were slaves, it came with a time of jubilation - where debts were cleared and slaves were allowed to go free. Seems fair enough to me if you follow the rules.
One will never know what the world would've been like if Israel had followed God's rules whole-heartedly.
I believe that He says no to homosexuality probably because the society that was hearing the rules was surrounded by people who often sodomized young boys so abstaining from sex before marriage and sex with close relatives and those of the same sex sets God's people apart from the rest of the world.
If, as you believe, there is no historical or archaeological evidence of exodus ever happening, then why do you ask the question about the killings? Surely if it didn't happen, in your opinion, then there couldn't be any discrimination because it simply didn't happen?
@liz im not saying its all made up - just that there is no evidence that the exodus ever happened. it doesnt deny their actual history, whatever that may be.
the bible doesnt mention anything about bacteria or soap, that would have been useful (especially during the plague). religions often include useful tips to help the population along - like early laws. in indian religions they make the cow sacred - this is to stop those in poverty killing their livestock for a quick meal when they can provide milk for years.
actually god is against slavery of his people, but fine about the slavery of others. Leviticus Chapter 25, verse 44: "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you... You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly."
you must have evidence that it was a society "who often sodomized young" - thats a huge accusation, id like to see evidence that this is the case before you use it as defense.
it seems alot of these answers youve given are to do with how to live life in the bronze age. why is there not an updated version? why has god not set out rules for the future (being omniscient after all)? especially as there are plenty who still follows these ancient rules, jews who deny jesus, muslims who extend christianity, and plenty of people who still think homosexuality is wrong (amongst other ridiculous rules in the bible).
in regards to the killings, there are plenty of killins in the bible aside from exodus, by god, in the name of god and at the order of god. i dont find it very comforting in the idea of god being a killer.
i dont 'believe' there is no evidence exodus ever happened, there is no evidence, thats not belief. one book (the bible) that claims it, when there is no other historical document of the time that mentions it, is not enough for evidence.
but believed it happened so do you believe there was discrimination? and with discrimination, if it never happened it makes it much worse. it means people have been discriminated against for thousands of years when the reason they were discriminated against was made up.
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