Real Hope - Real Jesus

“the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness” Luke 1:79

Christmas is a great time to share the news that God’s light has shone into the world.

Each year we have the opportunity to present this wonderful message at our local schools through our SRE Christmas assemblies.

Our wonderful teachers put on a spectacular performance – Professor Von Val returned along with the time machine from our last Real Kids day. With Rhonda as the side kick, we travelled back in time to meet the shepherds and discover that the birth of Jesus is what Christmas is really about. We sang and danced along to our favourite Christmas songs, led by some of our keener students. 

We put a lot of effort into these assemblies because we want the children to build good memories of Christmas – memories that have Jesus in the middle.

A new initiative this year was our Christmas celebration lunch for the Mobile Community Pantry. It is amazing how a sense of community has grown in this group and we were excited to see so many people turn up! 

With such a generous lunch provided by our volunteers it was a witness to the love and generosity of our God. But this kind of witness can only go so far unless the Word about our generous God is shared.

To that end we had a Christmas talk by Andy Peters. It was a fantastic talk – he spoke courageously and sensitively to this packed room of visitors, clearly explaining the invite that God extends to us to join his family through Jesus. 

Each of us will have opportunities this Christmas to invite people to see God’s great light in Jesus. I pray we can all be both sensitive and bold enough to take the chance.

SIMON CHAPLIN

Why is it that Christmas seems to bring with it not just joy, but sorrow as well?

On one hand all the joys of the past year are combined and relived on this one great day. And yet, at the same time, your troubled remembrances and sorrows are collected together and brought to mind.

Sorrows are felt in a few ways, always in comparison to the joy we feel.

We feel the absence of a family all the more on this day as we think how much greater the joy would it have been if they were here. In the midst of a joyful gathering, suddenly a broken relationship intrudes on our thoughts.

Of all the days, Christmas is when we want families to be right, and yet they seldom are. The tensions that arise seem out of place on this day and so are even more painful – we are sad that we could even be sad on this day.

The gap between our sorrow and joy is at its greatest, and so we feel them all the more.

What would the day look like if we’d just if we had room only for joy? What place does sorrow have on Christmas?

Without sorrow we would not be reminded of the need to forgive – for it is the hurts of others that are its most common cause. Learning to forgive brings with it a unique joy all of its own, a joy that is right at home at Christmas.

For it is impossible to forgive without first discovering the forgiveness of Christ. And this is the reason Jesus came, this is what Christmas is about – that God would enter our work and bear our sorrows upon himself. 

Even on that very first Christmas, the joy of the Angels was intermingled with sorrow. There was sorrow in the words Simeon prophesied to Mary “and a sword will pierce through your own soul also” Luke 2:35.

I am hoping for the most joyous Christmas – one that reminds me of the birth of our Saviour. But I also know that in the quiet moments when a pang is felt, I am taken closer to the truth of Christmas too.

SIMON CHAPLIN