As a child I remember Mum getting me to take my younger brothers’ Christmas presents around to our auntie’s house to be hidden and collected on Christmas Eve. Mum would also often hide our presents in our house. Most times we found them and we gradually perfected the art of unwrapping them, playing with them, then re-wrapping so that Mum would not find out. We actually thought that we could outwit our Mum!
As a teenage Christian, Christmas took on another whole new dimension. It was amazing to share with the people of God the mind-blowing wonder of God so loving the world that he gave his one and only Son to bear our guilt and sin, and through him for us to be able to cry out, Abba, Father!
Our hearts are thankful to the Lord for the special joy that Joan and I have had in sharing this wonderful news with our children from their very first Christmas. And the Lord has graciously extended this joy to us by giving us this privilege with our grandchildren.
The first parish where we served was St George’s, Penang, in Malaysia. Christmas was a mixture of Chinese, Indian and English Christian traditions. Christmas Eve was the main service. It always started with the main lights out and singing ‘Once In Royal David’s City’. As you can imagine, the food was great!
Our last ten years have also been very special, through sharing with the Lord’s people in Dapto. Australian culture had changed since we had been away and our main Christmas outreach was the 6pm family Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. The whole church family was involved in participating and running this service. It grew quickly and so was held at 5pm and 7pm.
I’m sure you also have wonderful memories for which you can thank God. A short time ago I was with a group where our Archbishop, Peter Jensen, shared with us his thoughts on this passage from Hosea 11:
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realise it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.”
The Anglican Cathedral in Cairo has the text ‘out of Egypt I called my son’ carved in stone at the entrance. This is the text Matthew quotes in chapter two, verse 15 of his Gospel. However, as I read these words, I became aware of how we can focus on the joys of sharing Christmas with family and friends and miss ‘the joy giver’!
May this Christmas be the time when we pause and remember afresh the One who loves us; who reached down and lifted us up; who lifted the yoke of sin and death; who binds us to himself in Christ with cords of kindness, love and grace.
May we never fail to realise that it is the Lord God Almighty through our Lord Jesus Christ who ‘healed us’. May he give us grace to show forth this truth in word and deed to all with whom we come in contact, especially at Christmas.
