Jesus is Our Light in the Darkness (Christmas Eve, Year B)

The Readings teach us how to cope with the spiritual darkness around us by following Jesus example if being a light in the darkness. We don’t see a lot of happy faces around us. The snowflake generation is in rebellion against God, confused and lost in materialism, drugs, alcohol and depression. The Good news is that we have hope and joy. Jesus has come to save us from this fallen world and guide us into an eternal life of joy that has already started and can only get better.

 

        1. Light Exposes the Darkness

Amazing Conversations at Jesus Birthday Party

 Our Anglican Holy Communion Service is like a birthday party. We gather and talk about someone (3 Readings), re-connect with each other (Confession and Absolution), have gifts (offering) a special meal (Eucharist) with a special prayer and song (Lord’s Prayer). Let’s start by talking about Jesus and getting to know him better:

1. Isaiah (7.10-17) Talks about an Amazing Sign from God

It is an amazing sign, prophesied 700 years before Jesus was born – a virgin will get pregnant and have a baby. There is no mention of who the father is. Who do you think the father will be?

What does this tell us about Jesus?

 

2. Luke (2.1-20) is the Amazing Story of Jesus Birth

Christ's Mass Is A Birthday Celebration (Christmas)

I was trying to figure out a way to explain our Christmas service to some very young children.  I realized that what we do in church to celebrate our Faith in Jesus is the same as what we do at a child’s birthday party. We invite their friends and family to gather for a meal and celebrate the child’s birth. Christ’s Mass – the first Mass or Holy Communion service of Christmas has all the same elements:

1.     We invite friends and family to gather

2.     We talk about the person

3.     We renew relationships, sing, pray have special food

4.     We go home with a special gift

1. We invite our friends and family to gather

Christmas Bible Study

Opening Prayer, Introduction

Christmas, Easter and Pentecost are the most important festivals in the Christian year of teachings. At Christmas we celebrate the miraculous birth of Jesus as the coming of God into the world. On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as a sign of our own resurrection. On Pentecost we celebrate the Holy Spirit of Jesus being poured out on all believers.

Christmas is preceded by the four Sundays of Advent during which Christians prepare for the coming of Jesus. Our first reading from Isaiah is a prophecy – words given to Isaiah directly from God over 500 years before the birth of Jesus. The part we read is the good news in a book that is mostly a warning to the people of Israel to turn from their rebellious and sinful ways. They ignored this warning and were overrun by other nations including Babylon and many were taken into captivity for 40 years. This prophecy gave those in exile – and us, hope of a better future.

We Need Jesus Presence Not Presents at Christmas

Tonight we can just relax, chill out and rest from the stress of shopping for presents. We can all rest in the presence of Jesus. Christmas is the hinge of human history because God intervened by coming to us in the form of His son Jesus born of the woman Mary. The Good News is that Jesus life, sacrificial death and resurrection brought us out of error into truth, out of sin into a right relationship with God and out of death into eternal spiritual life. God gave a dramatic sign of His love for us, in trusting His son’s life to a poor unwed mother living in an occupied country.

1. Jesus presence brought people out of error into truth

John Warns Us To Produce the Fruit of Repentance (Advent 3)

John the Baptist is an exciting figure. He is the last of the Prophets. The Prophets have a long history - two thousand years of warning the Hebrew People that God would come to them again and that they must be ready. There would be a time of divine judgement and justice. The poor and the oppressed would be able to celebrate. John the Baptist calls the religious teachers and clergy of his time “snakes”.  He calls on them to show the fruit of repentance if they really want to be saved from the coming judgement. As we prepare for the coming of Jesus at Christmas it is a good time to examine our lives and be sure we have produced the ‘fruit of repentance? 

1. We are called to repent our failure to love God more

Of course we think we love God. We know that is what we are supposed to be doing. The problem is, like the Pharisees, we often make up our own version of what loving God means:

Christmas or Christ's Mass Is a Celebration Of Our Forgiveness

Names are an important clue to destiny in the Bible. we need to begin by examining the name Jesus and understanding our personal need for both human and divine forgiveness. The name Jesus is a combination of Je or Yeh a shortened form of Yahweh; and “sus” the Aramaic verb to save. Many people in our secular culture are not aware of the danger of un-forgiveness as separating ourselves from both other people and God. I went through 30 years of silence and emotional darkness before experiencing the joy of forgiveness and reconciliation with my ex-wife. In our healing ministry Lucille and I have seen the joy on many faces as people come to forgiveness with others or accept forgiveness from Jesus. Un-forgiveness leads to destructive emotions of bitterness that pollute our personal spirit and separate us from God. The Good news of Jesus is that He was born to die for the sins of all people so they could be freed from what Isaiah called the "rod of the oppressor", Satan, who deceives us into rebellion against God and spiritual death. The Readings explain how this gift of forgiveness works.

1. Luke (2.1-20) Gives Us the Good News of the Forgiveness of Sins by Jesus

Jesus Grew in Wisdom, stature & favour with God & Man (Christmas 1)

The Readings for today (1 Samuel 2.18-26; Colossians 3.12-17; Luke 2.41-52) teach us how to prepare to have a rich spiritual life of love and service as God’s chosen people. This new life begins with a rediscovery of our identity as children of God which has been stolen from us by a secular culture. Jesus was fully human so the Readings show us how he grew spiritually by reading the Scriptures, seeking out wise teachers and spending time with them. It was only after He had spent 30 years growing in wisdom and stature that He was able to step out in ministry as a teacher and healer. These readings explain why many churches are not thriving in our time – they have lost their spiritual identity and are not in favour with God and man.

1. Our identity as “God’s chosen people” has been stolen

Jesus Gives Us the Spiritual Gifts of Love, Joy and Peace (Christmas)

The Good News of Christmas is that God intervened in history to come and live among His creation as a man and make a New Covenant. Covenant of Moses and the Law had been broken several times by the Hebrew People and they were crying out for a Saviour who would free them from Roman occupation and religious corruption. God did much more. He showed His love and trust by coming as a helpless baby who would grow up and give His life as a ransom to establish a New Covenant of forgiveness. This New Covenant broke the power of Satan and freed believers from the spiritual yoke of human sin-guilt that separated them from God and led to spiritual death. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to come and live inside believers  – giving them the spiritual gifts of love, joy and peace as a sign of relationship.

1. Jesus birth shows us God’s love as relationship, community & belonging