Day 7: More fantastic than fiction

‘Nothing in fiction is as fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.’

(J.I.Packer, Knowing God)

Day 6: The Humility of Jesus

‘I am the father of five children, three young boys (Zachariah Blaise, Calvin Martin, Gideon Joseph) and two girls (Ashley Marisa, Alexie Grace). While my girls like to go out for tea and shoe-shopping on our daddy-dates, their brothers prefer to have wrestling matches with me to practice their Ultimate Fighting moves. In our matches, I remain in authority as their father and possess far superior strength that could be used to completely crush them. But, because I love them, want to identify with them, and be with them, I humble myself and lay aside some of my rights and strengths; I get down on the ground and take a beating from my boys.

In a similar way, the teaching of Philippians and the repeated referrals to Jesus as a servant in Scripture (especially in Isaiah and the Gospels) denote the humility of Jesus to stoop to our level and dwell with us.’

(Mark Driscoll, Vintage Jesus)

Day 5: Bethlehemian Rhapsody!

Something a little more light-hearted today.

You've heard of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody?


This is one Church Puppet Teams Christmas re-write and re-mix of it...ENJOY!


Link: Bethlehemian Rhapsody

Day 4: Singing Heresy at Christmas

Even the most vigilant heresy-hunter seems to become tame and docile at Christmas, which is surprising in view of the half-truths and untruths contained in some carols.

Consider for a moment these lines from famous carols we sing at this time of the year...  

It came upon a midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth

To touch their harps of gold

Harps on earth or in heaven are only played by humans in the scriptures. Harps are mentioned 54 times in the Bible, never regarding angels.

‘Once in Royal David’s City

Stood a lowly cattle shed...

Not in that poor lowly stable

With the oxen standing by...’

There is no mention of cattle, oxen, cattle sheds or a stable in the gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus. All we know is that Jesus was laid in a manger, which was a feeding trough for animals.

‘How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given!’ (O little town of Bethlehem)

We are not told that giving birth to Jesus was any easier for Mary than normal. It was therefore probably as noisy as any birth without pain relief today would be!

‘See amid the winter’s snow

Born for us on earth below’

A hangover from Victorian sentimentality I’m afraid. There was no snow when Jesus was born.

‘Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace’ (Silent night)

The Christmas cards may picture baby Jesus with a halo and radiant face, but there is absolutely no indication that he looked any different from any other baby.

The sentimentalisation of Christmas does the real Jesus a great disservice. In order to redeem fallen human beings Jesus had to be both fully God AND fully human. It also robs us of the encouragement that comes from knowing that we have a Saviour who can empathise with us in every way, because he was just like us, minus the sin.

The writer of Hebrews wanted us to know the truth about Jesus:

‘For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.’ (Heb 4:15-16)

Being sure about Jesus humanness is essential if we are to draw near to him. Only when we worship the Jesus who knew what it was to feel our human weakness will we have the confidence that he will accept us when we approach him in OUR time of weakness.

Day 3: Bing on what makes a White Christmas

‘Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it white.’

(Bing Crosby)

Day 2: A Parable of the Incarnation

‘One may think of a diver first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through the increasing pressure into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay, and then back up again, back to colour and light, his lungs almost bursting until suddenly he breaks the surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing he went down to recover. That dripping, precious thing is you and I, and Advent is when we celebrate his coming down to us.’

(C. S. Lewis)

Day 1: The Amazing Grace of Christmas

‘Christ became what we are that he might make us what he is.’
 
(Athanasius)

Twelve Days of Christmas Blogs!

The Twelve Days of Christmas are  12 festive days beginning on Christmas Day and ending on 5th January.

In the Middle Ages, this period was one of continuous feasting and merrymaking, which climaxed on Twelfth Night, the traditional end of the Christmas season. In Tudor England, Twelfth Night found its place in popular culture when William Shakespeare used it as the setting for one of his most famous stage plays, titled Twelfth Night.

Due to the many Bank Holidays at this time of the year, many people are on holiday for some of the 12 days after Christmas. For Christians, this is a great time to re-charge, rest and reflect on God’s faithfulness in the year just gone and his trustworthiness for the year to come.

To help with this, I’m going to post a new blog for every one of the Twelve Days of Christmas!  

Hope you enjoy the quotes, video clips and Christian resources featured over the next few days. Some will be thought-provoking, others challenging, and some just downright silly!

A Social Network Christmas pt2

For those of you whose email settings don't allow you to view the video link in your email browser, try the direct link below. In future I'll include a direct link with every video I embed in the blog.

A Social Network Christmas Video

A Social Network Christmas

We had a packed church for our Community Carols by Candlelight Service last night at Woodgreen For a sermon-starter I used a DVD introduction which told the Nativity via Facebook. It made quite an impression.

Many have asked where I got it from and can they have the link so they can pass it on to others.

Well... here it is..

Over the Christmas break I'll be posting more regular shorter blogs... my own 12 days of Christmas!

Check back frequently.

Have a happy, restful, worshipful Christmastime.