Christmas Message

Dear Friends,

There is a story that God would have been much better sending three women rather than three men to visit the baby Jesus. For a start they would have felt quite comfortable asking for directions, they would have arrived on time rather than several months late, they would have been much more help in delivering the baby, they would have made sure that the stable was clean and cosy, and brought practical gifts to help Mary and Joseph look after their new born son.

However, when you look back upon the story of the wise men you realise the wisdom within it. They sensed instinctively that this was a turning point in human history as God came down to earth to live as a human being. That was wise. They were inquisitive and wanted to find out about this baby born to be king of the Jews. That was wise. Despite facing a journey of several months over thousands of miles and across difficult terrain they refused to give up. That was wise. They brought the right kind of gifts for such a special child: gold fit for a king; incense for use in divine worship; and myrrh, a spice that came to represent suffering and sorrow. That was wise. But all of these actions have only been proved wise because we are able to look back at those events two thousand years ago and see that the wise men were right to take such action. They were able to witness firsthand the most significant event in human history as God put his plan in to action for the saving of humankind.

It’s often said that “it’s easy to be wise after the event” but as humans we can only live life forwards, so we never know what is in store for us just around the corner. We might think we know what is coming next, but God and other people usually have other ideas. So we’re asked to be open in our approach to life: to have enough time and space so that we can cope with those unexpected happenings that by their nature can often be an unwelcome rather than a welcome interruption.

As we approach Christmas with all its joy and busyness, it’s important that we’re wise enough to leave some openings in our lives that we’re able to welcome Jesus as a friend and as our Saviour in to our festive celebrations. This may involve taking some time out to come a church service, to sit down quietly and listen to some carols or to pick up and read one of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth. This might not seem wise at the time with Christmas presents still to buy and some last minute shopping to do, but if we fill our lives with busyness, partying and presents, then we’ll miss out on the real meaning of Christmas.

When we look back upon Christmas 2010, I wonder what we’ll be thinking. Will it be ‘I wish I’d eaten a bit more food’ or ‘if only I’d bought a few more presents’? Or will it be ‘did I experience the love and joy of the baby Jesus’ or ‘what was it actually like in Bethlehem 2000 years ago’? Hopefully it will be the latter so that “we can wise before the event”.

Wishing you a peace filled Christmas and joyful New Year,

James