Christmas Reflection by the Moderator

What have you got to rejoice about this Christmas?

The message of this Advent season is all about the joyful anticipation of the coming of Jesus – God in Jesus being made real to us. God is with us – Immanuel, God’s promise of his unfaltering presence in our lives.

The wonder of the story of the first Christmas reminds us that circumstances don’t have to dictate our joy.

Who could have expected the year that we have just had?

Maybe you have experienced:

• the loss of someone you loved so dearly
• shared in the disappointments of dreams and plans and goals not being reached
• the trauma of unexpected events and even local community disasters and for some of us we seem to have had more than our fair share
• the injustices & tragedy of war and even on our own shores, acts of religious and racial discrimination with senseless attacks of hatred and violence
• the tragedy of lives taken so young through youth suicide
• the deep grief of parents outliving their children through the battling of terminal disease robbing them of life so short
• the all-consuming feelings and outcries from the heart… that this is just not fair, it is not how life was meant to be
• and for some of us, there will be someone missing around the Christmas table this year.

We find ourselves in a spiral, asking questions that we struggle to find answers to, being left with a resounding voice in our minds… why, why, why?

But this is the world and the reality of the context of the first Christmas. In the midst of unanswered questions, the disruption of things not running according to customs, culture or tradition, or even defying all logic or reason, God chooses to make himself real to us in the person of his son Jesus.

God in Jesus breaks through into a disruptive world, that is not living according to how the Creator designed things to be, and makes himself known and real!

The Christmas story according to the accounts of the Gospels does not begin as a… “once upon a time” event, yet another fairy tale to recall this time every year. It does not begin with the preamble…“in a galaxy far, far away”, another movie script on our popular playlist.

God interrupts the world, in a point of time in history, in the person of his Son Jesus as a baby, out of wedlock, with an adopted father called Joseph, a local carpenter.  You might say that if you wrote the script for this story the headlines would read… “scandalous!”  Mary, a teenage single mum, not having conceived her child through sexual relations (divine conception) gives birth to Jesus after carrying her baby the full term of her pregnancy, gives birth in a shed, in the stench of an animal shelter out the back of the hotel, because they don’t have a booking and there are no vacancies because of the busy holiday period with everyone travelling home for the census.

In the midst of so many unanswered questions…God punches a hole between what does not make sense in our lives and makes himself real, from what seems impossible, he makes it possible, meeting us in the reality of our world, our story,  our messy life. God comes into our world to be our Saviour!  God chooses us… and fully discloses himself in the person of Jesus and makes himself real!

The Angel’s proclamation as recorded in the book of Luke declares, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people” (Luke 2:10). This Joy, freely given, invites us to reflect on the reason for our rejoicing and the deeper meaning of this holy season, the assurance of God’s presence, love and mercy in every moment of our lives.

Unto you a child is born! Unto you a son is given! This child Himself will be your peace. This child will be your entry way to God. This child will die to pay the penalty for your sins, if you only believe in Him, if you only see Him for what He is - Your Saviour, your Messiah, your Lord, your Hope.  Unto you is born this day a Saviour, Christ Jesus the Lord! (based on Isaiah 9:6-7).

This is a season of Renewal - to know God’s love, Joy and peace.

Now that is something worth rejoicing about!