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Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor

Tag: Christmas

  • The Night Is Far Gone

    mayberetiredpastor

    The Night Is Far Gone

    For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore.

    Isaiah 9:6-7, Old Testament, The Bible

    One morning in Advent, my devotional reading for the day coincided with a broadcast on the radio of Handel’s aria of the same passage from the Messiah – For unto us a child is born, a son is given …  seeing the text on the page and hearing it sung at the same time to the music of Handel of course made a great impression on me that day.

    2025 has been a year in which a great upheaval of the pre-existing world order has taken place. In a matter of months, conventions and understandings which had underpinned our world since the second World War were unceremoniously overturned. Might has been given a freedom and authority which we thought we had done away with, and truth has become merely a matter of who can shout loudest and longest with the result the poor and the weak are simply inconveniences to be swept away by the rich and the powerful. Most troubling has been the emergence of a form of Christianity which seems to preach a gospel that dresses itself in ideologies not seen since 1930’s Europe. It is unrecognisable from that preached by Jesus yet loudly proclaimed as the true gospel by, again, the rich and the powerful. 2025 is leaving behind, for me at any rate, a bitter sense of foreboding.

    That day, when text coincided with song, a candle was, for me, lit in the dark. Christmas is, of course, the celebration of the birth of a king – a king like no other, a king who brings the dawning of an age of justice, righteousness, peace – the dawning of hope. Text and song reminded me of that. The Son of God had been born amongst us, and His life, death and resurrection are a matter of record. It is the promise that the lion will lie down with the lamb, that every tear will be truly wiped away. The birth of the Son ushered in the dawn of a new age, an age which will never end. It was the herald of a new kingdom that will not be denied. The shedding of His blood was the payment of all debt, the cleansing of all corruption. His resurrection was and is the triumphant defeat of all enemies. His return is certain.

    This present darkness is temporary. It may seem long, it may be bitter, but it will not last. The King will return. So, despite this year, and even if there are similar years to come, with text and song aligning together that day, Christmas was once again a celebration of joy. The King has come and we cry with all the saints, “Maranatha, come Lord Jesus” (1).

    1. 1 Corinthians 16:22 & Revelation 22:20, New Testament, The Bible.

  • Rachel Wept

    mayberetiredpastor

    Rachel Wept

    When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

    18 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
        wailing and loud lamentation,
    Rachel weeping for her children;
        she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

    Matthew 2:16-18 New Testament, The Bible.

    Matthew’s Nativity account contains the harrowing account of the massacre of the innocents, the result of the actions of a ruthless political leader. Mary and Joseph had to flee with Jesus to escape Herod’s persecution and, as many a sermon has pointed out, Jesus began life as a refugee.

    Herod the Great, the politician in question, was a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler. The killing of unnumbered young children mattered not the least to him in  the pursuit of his political objectives. That was twenty centuries ago. Today, the land is again ruled by a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler whose actions are orders of magnitude greater in ruthlessness than Herod’s. And once again the words of the prophet Jeremiah can be aptly quoted – Rachel indeed weeps once more for her children as Prime Minister Netanyahu pursues his political objectives with little, if any, regard for the price paid by thousands of innocent families.

    His excuse is that it is a matter of self-defence, and in this he has been supported by many we would have hoped would judge better, arguing that the right to self-defence trumps all other concerns. Others do not see it in the same way and are appalled at the tragedy and loss inflicted on innocent families. Regardless, whatever human courts might say there is one court which no ruler, no government can avoid. Against the rulings of this court there is no appeal.

    The Bible declares that vengeance must be limited to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21:23-25) a limit that has been contemptuously breached by the Netanyahu government. More critically, it is clear that, by making His Son share in the tragedy of the massacre of the innocents, God has declared in favour of the innocent and the persecuted.

    Jeremiah’s prophecy is simultaneously a word of comfort and promise to those who have suffered, and, a divine judgement against those whose deeds have poured out tragedy on the lives of those who weep. While Netanyahu’s government may hold human courts in contempt they will be held accountable to the one court that matters: they will each, individually and corporately, have to give account before God Himself.   

    As for you mothers who weep, your cries have been heard; the Lord God Almighty Himself will hold your persecutors to account.

  • God Chose A Side

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    God Chose A Side

    This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

    Matthew 1:18-19,  New Testament, The Bible

    Maybe it’s because I have been watching a lot of police dramas set in the middle of the last century that these verses have hit me with particular vehemence this Christmas. The best of these address social issues prominent at the time, but even those that don’t reflect cultural norms that are disturbing from the perspective of sixty years in the future. Something that repeatedly strikes me is how badly women were treated at every level of society – not only as victims of crime but simply in everyday life ( I recommend the series Inspector George Gently as a series that powerfully addresses the issue of the day while providing absorbing crime drama).

    It’s not new, of course, to recognise that Jesus’ birth was surrounded by controversy but our celebration of the festival obscures and sugar-coats the nature of His birth. It doesn’t strike us with the force that Matthew’s original readers might have felt. The truth is, the circumstances of Jesus’ birth were shocking and Matthew does not shy away from it. Mary, a young girl, supposedly a virgin, is suddenly discovered to be pregnant. Joseph, her fiancé, reaches the obvious conclusion and decides what any man in his position would have done (and would still do today) – he annuls the engagement. He is a kind man and aims to do so quietly to spare Mary, but it is clear what he, and any other person, believes.

    Reading these verses again I was struck by the realisation that, when He sent his Son amongst us, God chose a side. Of course, we are well aware that in being born as a human being Jesus was humbling Himself to an incomprehensible degree, but, even so, we identify Him with the “good”, “upright”, “moral” (middle class!) people. We fail to recognise that from the very beginning God chose to be identified with the outcast, the despised, the damned. God caused His Son to be born in such a manner that He would be known as the son of a woman who had become pregnant by someone not her fiancé or husband; she was a woman who had made an “unfortunate” mistake; a flirt, a slut, a whore. Jesus, in short, was a bastard. In the mid-twentieth century this would have condemned her.  It’s clear, that this judgement was in the background of Jesus’ story all through His life. The gospel of John, chapter 8:19,41, only makes sense if the Pharisees were referring to stories of Jesus’ illegitimacy. Jesus’ dubious parentage was clearly widely known. God chose a side.

    In the birth of His Son, God chose to stand with all those judged and damned as unworthy by society. He chose to stand with the outcast, the immoral, the weak, the poor.  When I look at the church today I wonder if we, in our moral judgments and condemnations, really stand on the same side as God chose or whether, in Jesus words in John 8, we belong to a different father?

  • A Christian Country?

    mayberetiredpastor

    A Christian Country?

    … to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

    14 ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
        and on earth peace, goodwill among people!’

    Luke 2:11-14 New Testament, The Bible.

    We really enjoy watching the detective series “Death in Paradise”.  Set in the gorgeous Caribbean, each episode begins with a grisly death followed immediately by the jaunty reggae theme tune of the series! The incongruity always makes us laugh and is possibly our favourite part of each episode. Because we enjoy it so much we also follow the spin-offs and we have been re-watching series one of “Beyond Paradise” which follows two particular characters from the original series as they re-settle in the UK. We didn’t intend to do so, but we found ourselves watching the Christmas special just as Advent began. So, wholly appropriate!

    This year has seen the release of more data from the 2021 census. One of the headlines has been the report, for the first time, that less than half of the population identify as “Christian” leading to much discussion around the theme of “the UK is no longer a Christian country”. I have even been contacted by friends from the Far East bemoaning the “shocking” news.  But Christmas specials, like the one we watched last week, should, perhaps, make us pause a little before writing-off the UK as a Christian country.

    This particular episode of Beyond Paradise ended with the community gathering in the town square for their Christmas celebration.  They rejoiced and celebrated peace and goodwill to all. Above all, It was full of hope for the future and, as these things are designed to do, left the viewer with warm, joyful feelings.  “Serious” Christians tend to be cynical about the Christmas season as celebrated by the wider community, and, indeed, the modern Christmas season includes much dross, but, yet, carol services are full and churches tend see more people than at any other time of the year; it is the time of year when people give most to good causes and, we, as a wider community, seek to recognise those who have quietly served their communities through the year.   

    It may be the case that the numbers of people identifying themselves as Christian has fallen below half the population but as a nation we still hold closely to key elements of the message of the angels. In that sense we remain very much a Christian country. It is cultural but it is an act of faith baked into our cultural foundations, maybe this is the reason why many in the world still want to come to the UK despite the many disincentives – the message of the angels is still heard by them in this collective act of faith.

    This isn’t to claim that this is a nation that knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, but that hasn’t been the case since the middle of the last century – if not longer. But the fact that so much of the gospel message is still retained is an encouragement to the church to continue proclaiming the full gospel of Jesus Christ so that the smouldering faith still held by the nation can be fanned into life: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born amongst us; lived amongst us; gave His life for us on the Cross; and was raised again on the third day so that all who believe in Him shall not die but have everlasting life! This is why we celebrate and rejoice at Christmas time.