Carol
Service Sermon Notes 2017
I want to break with all
convention and do something deeply embarrassing:
I want to ask you a
question.
Not a rhetorical question
but a real, actual question, to which I’m hoping you’ll respond.
I’m sorry!
Forgive me: it is nearly Christmas!
Please would you put your
hand up if you came to this service last year.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for coming.
And thank you for coming
back – that’s always encouraging!
Well, the message of
Christmas hasn’t changed.
So I refer you to my
sermon from last year!
2017 is nearly over.
And it’s been an eventful
year.
Much has changed.
Teressa May lost her
majority.
The Brexit saga continues
and Article 50 has been triggered.
There’s no escaping
Brexit, not even at the Carol Service!
North Korea has had us on
the brink of nuclear war.
Some have feared that
Russia is running America and that the DUP are running Britain.
Our bank notes and coins
have changed, and are worth rather less.
Having Googled changes in
2017 for you, I can tell you that Katy Perry, who ever she is, has radically
changed her hairstyle at least 4 times – blonde, platinum, short, then clipped,
if you’re wondering.
Maybe things have changed
for you and for your family this year.
Everything changes, and
yet nothing changes.
The world is fundamentally
the same.
In some ways we still walk
in darkness.
I read a news review of
2017 recently and the thing that struck me was the number of terrorist incidents.
There was another suicide
attack in Pakistan last week.
The security services here
tell us they have prevented a plot over Christmas.
We still seem just as
adept at making a mess of our world.
We still stand in need of
the peace and good will.
The message of Christmas
is unchanged.
I trust our readings and
our carols have made something of that message clear.
The hope and dreams of all
years are met in Jesus, the baby of Bethlehem.
He is the long-promised
rescuer-king, the Son who is given to us, the Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty
God, the Prince of Peace.
He is Emmanuel, God with
us – God come in the flesh, into the mess and darkness of our world.
He was from the very
beginning hunted and hated, a refugee,
fleeing from terror.
Yet his humble birth is
news of great joy for all the people.
He is a Saviour who is
Christ, the Lord – the Saviour of the world, of all nations.
The government is upon his
shoulders.
He is the ultimate strong
and stable leader.
Strong, because he is
Almighty God.
Stable, because, well…
See what I did there?
Strong and stable.
There was no room at the
inn, you see?
So, stable?
(Oh dear, I don’t know why
I bother…)
Jesus means to change our
world, one life at a time.
The unchanging message of
Christmas is still relevant – still vital.
It still meets the most
fundamental needs of our world, your most fundamental needs and mine.
Joseph was told to call
the baby Jesus, which means God’s saves, Saviour, because the Christ-child would
save people from their sins.
According to the Bible all
the world’s problems, all your problems and mine, track back to sin – to
rebellion against God, to our living of our lives our way for ourselves.
We sin and we are sinned
against.
And so we need a Saviour.
Jesus is the one and only
human being who never sinned, who has come to pay the price of sin.
If, like the Shepherds, we
will go and check these things out, we would find the baby no longer wrapped in
swaddling-clothes and lying in a manger, but in the Scriptures.
Jesus comes to us clothed
in the pages of the Bible.
And the Bible presents
Jesus to us as the Saviour of sinners, the one who perfectly meets our greatest
needs.
The baby who was born,
would live a perfect life, and die an undeserved death, and rise victorious
over sin and death and hell, so that sinners like you and me might be forgiven,
so that we might have peace with God.
I want to finish by asking
you another question.
This time I won’t ask you
to put your hand up, but I hope you’ll think about it.
The good news of Christmas
hasn’t changed, but has the good news of Christmas changed you?
I don’t so much mean have
you tried to show peace and good will to other people this year, although of
course I hope you have.
I mean has Jesus made a
difference to you this year?
He came to rescue, to
renew and transform.
When he came he split time
in two and he meant to leave nothing the same.
Has he changed you?
If I may be cheesey for a
moment -
And what is Christmas
about, if not an excess of cheese:
Jesus is the reason for
the season.
And Jesus is for life, not
just for Christmas.
Has Jesus been your
saviour, your Lord, this year?
His promise to all who
believe in him is that, whoever we are, and whatever we’ve done, we can live as
God’s restored, beloved children.
In Jesus are the light and
life for which we were made.
All the blessings of God’s
love are for all who will receive Jesus.
I hope you’ll come back to
this service in 2018 – and perhaps not just to this one.
But even more, I hope that
the unchanging Jesus changes you and me, and changes our 2018.
My prayer is that like the
Shepherds we might go on our way rejoicing, because we have met Jesus – and
that nothing will ever be the same.
Christmas changes
everything.
The people walking in
darkness have seen a great light.
I hope some of you will
want to find out more about Jesus in the year ahead.
I realise you might have
questions.
This God born in Bethlehem
is a lot to take in.
A virgin birth takes some
believing.
I hope you’ll give some
time to asking yourself, could what we’ve been singing actually be true?
When I look at Jesus, can
I see the Godhead there veiled in flesh?
And what difference would
it make?
What difference will He,
Jesus, make to me?
On your service sheet,
you’ll see details of an evening we’re putting on on Wed 10th
January when you can come and hear something more about what it is Christians
believe and ask any questions.
We’d love to see you
there.
And indeed, you can always
give me a ring or drop me an email.
I’d be delighted to talk
to you further about this life-changing message.
A very Merry Christmas to
you.
And Amen.
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