Advent 21: With Us

Scripture: "They will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us")." (Matthew 1:23) 

Song: Emmanuel, You're One of Us

Happy Christmas!

One of the things that God most wants is to be with us. 

Let that sink in. 

Christmas is a time for being awed again by a God who left his throne in heaven to walk amongst us because He wanted to be with us. In the words of Rend Collective's Song, he left his throne to wear our scars. This is an unbelievable truth: that Jesus would abandon glory in the hope of winning back his people, that Jesus so wants a relationship with us that he would willingly come to earth to die so that we might live with him forever. 

God wants to be with us this morning. In this very second, he waits, as the Father of the prodigal son waits on the edge of the field, for us to turn around and run to him. He waits with open arms wanting to embrace, wanting us to sit at his feet and tell him how we're feeling. He wants nothing more than our attention, to set his love upon us, to tell us that he is with us always and that life need never be lived in isolation from him. His Holy Spirit sent to live in our hearts is proof that he never wants to be apart from us. God could have an empty heaven and be perfectly content and yet he wants us there with him. (John 17:24)

In 2020, this is a truth that we need to hear and know more than ever. We do not know what 2021 will bring. In recent days, Christmas plans have been thrown into confusion and a new strain of coronavirus is wreaking havoc in the South East. We do not know what the future holds but today, of all days, let us remember the truth that - whatever comes next - God is with us. 

God is with us. We do not need to be afraid.

God is with us. We need never feel alone.

God is with us. Because he wants to be.

Reflection: 

God is with us in every part of the day ahead, every part of the week ahead, the month, the year. In each moment, the moments we long for and the ones we dread, he is alongside us. 

Use the words of this poem this morning to reflect on the awesome truth of God's presence. 

Immanuel 

The Lord is with you. 

God is here, now, right this moment. 

The creator, the king, the author of life itself. 

Here. Now. With you. 

The Lord is with you. 

Not against you, not distant or far off, not distracted by needs more pressing than your own. 

Here. Now. With you. 

The Lord is with you. 

His whisper stirs the dawn, his voice echoes in the sound of a new-born’s cry, his call caught up in the taste of coffee on a cold morning. 

Here. Now. With you. 

The Lord is with you. 

In the hustle and the bustle, the pain and hurt and loss and dreams left unfulfilled. 

The mundane, the boring, the day after day after day. 

Here. Now. With you. 

The Lord is with you. 

He is the ever-present one, closer than breath, than flesh on bone, than thought and feeling, than the anxiety that presses upon your heart. 

Here. Now. With you. 

The Lord is with you. 

God. The most high. The uncreated one. The maker. The king. The Almighty. The one without start or end. 

Here. Now. With you. 

Dare you believe it, trust it, lean on it. 

The Lord is with you. 

His name – 

Immanuel. 

Father, we pray that we would know the reality of you with us. We pray that we would feel you close and know the difference that it makes. We pray that we would feel your presence in a new way today, that we would know the truth that you are as close to us as turned attention, as close as conversation. All we need do is acknowledge that you are there. Amen.

Advent 20: Freedom

Scripture: “I will be an enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) 

Song: Wounded One

“People are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” (2 Peter 2:19) What are we mastered by? The peculiar chains that bind each of us are slightly different: anxiety about the future; the pain of ongoing sickness; fear of what other people think; addictions to what hurts us; financial insecurity; worry about weight and appearance; the pressure to buy certain things and appear to live a certain lifestyle. 

We are all enslaved by something.

When Jesus came he proclaimed that freedom had arrived. He set free those who had been chained by tormenting spirits and thought processes (Mark 5:15), those we had been sick for many years (Luke 8:48), those who were estranged from their communities (Mark 1:40-45, Luke 9:42-43), those whose tongues had never let them speak (Mark 7:35), whose eyes had never let them see (John 9:6-7), whose legs had never let them walk (Mark 2:11-12) He fulfilled the ancient promises of the prophets by declaring that he was the one who had come to release the captives from what bound them. (Isaiah 61:1)

But, Jesus also declared freedom of an altogether more powerful kind. He claimed that he had come to set us free from the one thing that masters everyone: sin. When speaking to a crowd about freedom, the crowd took offense at him, claiming that they didn’t need his help. We are already free, they said. Don’t talk to us about freedom. But Jesus went on to say that all of them were, in fact, slaves because all of them were sinners: “Everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:31-36)

This is an extremely uncomfortable claim. We are all slaves because we all sin. We all do things wrong. We all do things that we don’t really want to and we know will cause hurt and yet, somehow, we are powerless to not do them. The angry word spoken once, sworn never to be spoken again, that pops out a second time. And a third. That snide comment about someone else’s family or ability or appearance that spills out before we can hold it in. That dig about someone else which makes us feel good. That small, white lie that saves our own skin. That secretive snacking on cake in the kitchen whilst claiming to everyone else to be on a diet. That smug satisfaction about seeing someone else fail to do something that we ourselves struggle to do. The determination to do better, be better, think nicer next time that fails the second a particular circumstance arises.

But, sin is not just the things themselves. The biblical story starts with the invasion of an enemy into God’s good world: the snake in the garden. And it is this enemy that Jesus came to defeat. In Genesis, God says that one day someone will come who will crush the Snake; one day Satan and all of his evil intentions will be finally destroyed.

Thus, sin is not just about individual sins. He saids, and she dids and they didn’ts. Sin is something much more powerful and deadly than that. It is an enemy force bent on wreaking havoc and death. The enemy that Jesus tells us has come to kill, and steal and destroy. (John 10:10) The enslaving power of this enemy is too deep for me to break off. I cannot be free of it. Only Jesus can set me free. Only the Promised Snake-Crushed, who is wounded even as he is declared victorious, can set me free. Only the cross can disarm Satan and his powers (Colossians 2:15)

On that first Christmas, thousands of years ago, the baby that Mary delivered into the world was the one destined to deliver the world from the sin that enslaved it:

God rest ye merry gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born on Christmas Day

To save us all from Satan's pow'r

When we were gone astray

Oh tidings of comfort and joy

Comfort and joy

Advent 19: Clean

Scripture: 

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; 

he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:4-7)

Song: Nothing but the blood

We all know - even if only in a Sunday School singsong fashion - that Jesus came to die for our sin. But the Bible tells us that the blood of Jesus on the cross does not just remove the guilt of our sin but the hurt of our shame.

Jesus came to remove the stain of sin and the stains of those who have been sinned against. By his blood, we are washed clean and made utterly new. We are made white as snow. No matter what we have done or what has been done to us.

 For those of us who have been subjected to awful things at the hands of others, we need to hear the truth of this. When Jesus died on the cross, he embraced all of our suffering: he took on the sin of the rapist and the shame of the raped, he took the punishment of the abuser and washed the wounds of the abused. 

The bible says that Jesus was like one who was despised. (Isaiah 53:3) He was like one that others would turn their faces to avoid. He was humiliated in the most base and brutal manner imaginable. He knows what it is to be ashamed. He knows what it is to feel dirty, and to be looked at with disgust. Jesus hung on the cross bloody and mangled for the whole world to see, a convict condemned to death, a common criminal made an example of, a beaten lump of humanity exposed to the eyes of all the onlookers, the subject of gossip and slander, the one people muttered about in streets and wouldn't allow their children to look at lest they too somehow became contaminated.

But by his death, he cleanses us of all our rubbish. We are tarnished by regret at what we have done, and by the shame of what others have done. Jesus says, Come to me and be clean. Come to me and let me tend to your wounds, let me start to wash away the pain of your past. Come to me and let me make you new.

Reflection: Jesus, thank you that your promise to make us new. Thank you that there is no stain that you cannot remove. Thank you that as we look to you we are made radiant; our faces are never covered in shame. Thank you that you died to wash us clean.

Advent 18: Life

Scripture: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believed in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

Song: Saviour of the World

Jesus came to offer us eternal life. (John 3:16) His promise is that those who trust in him will live even though they die; they will live forever in eternity with God.

And yet, his promise isn't just about some distant happily ever after. Jesus offers fullness of life in the here and now. He says that he has come to give abundance of life. (John 10:10) This seems strange when in many ways his life, and the lives of his first followers, didn't look particularly 'full' by worldly standards. They weren't rich or famous or important. They didn't have security. Many had left family and friends and employment behind: all of the things that we would think necessary to feel full and satisfied.

But Jesus says that he offers a satisfaction, a life-giving fullness, that is distinct from circumstance. It is possible to be full of joy even when your world is falling apart. (Philippians 4:12-13) He says that life is about knowing who God is (John 17:3); that our emptiness can only be filled up by God himself however hard we might try to cram it full of other things. The deepest longing of the human soul is to know the one we were made for. This is what gives us life. This is what Jesus offers: relationship with the Creator that fills our life now and continues to fill it forever.

Give up your broken cisterns, he says. (Jeremiah 2:13) Give up your striving and your money-making schemes. Give up your anxiety and your consumerism, Give up your relentless pursuit of something new that will make life meaningful. Come to me instead. Stop spending money on what can never satisfy (Isaiah 55:2) What I have doesn't cost anything. Come and receive the free gift of life and watch it well up from inside you and pour into those around you. Come to me and have life - life in all its fullness.

Reflection: Read the words of Isaiah 55. Lay aside what has tried and failed to make you full and ask for what only Jesus can give. 

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labour on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live." (Isaiah 55:1-3)

Advent 17: Understanding

Scripture: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16

Song: God is Near

Why did God choose to become a man? It's a fairly nonsensical plan for salvation when you think about it. And even if it wasn't possible for us to be reconciled to God by any other means than the death of a sinless person dying in our place, why would Jesus need to walk out 33 years of life first? Why wait 33 years to die if that's what you've came to do?

There is something stupidly beautiful in the fact that Jesus embraced our humanity; for his time on earth he took on everything it means to be a human being. He took on weakness and vulnerability, hunger and sleep deprivation, shame and rejection. He became fully one of us in order to save us. It was necessary for him to share in our humanity even to the point of death so that he could break death's hold over us. (Hebrews 2:14)

When I taught in Croydon, the kids used to say "God knows" all the time. "Ahh, Miss! Swear down. Say God knows." But he does. And that isn't just a matter of omniscience. It isn't just about knowing everything; it is about understanding. Jesus proves to us that God fully understands the human predicament. Every emotion, pain, doubt, temptation - Jesus understands; he has been through it.

I cannot quite comprehend this but I need it to be true. I do not want to worship a God who looks down from heaven and scoffs at tiny human beings making their silly little mistakes all the time, who looks on from a distance with disdain in his eyes and wonders why the poxy creatures get so upset when one of them dies, or when they are hurt by a friend, or why they rant and rage so much when He seems so distant.

But Jesus shows us that God is not like this at all. Our God is a God who understands. Our God knows what it is to be cast out. He knows what it is to be let down by friends. He knows what it is to call up to the skies in desperation for something different to be done. He knows what it is to struggle to trust. He knows what it is to be abandoned by your loved ones.

There is great comfort here if we would stop to see it. This Christmas, whatever our struggle, God knows. Swear down.

Advent 16: Loved

Scripture: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

Song: Reckless Love

In the retelling of creation in the Jesus Storybook Bible (my favourite children's bible!), God creates humanity and it says this: “God loved them with all of his heart. And they were lovely because he loved them.” The bible tells the story of a people who knew that there was a God and that that God loved them. He was their Creator and he had made them in love.

But sin marred the connection between people and God. People forgot that there was a God who loved them. They started thinking all kinds of different things about God instead: that he was a tyrant, that he was distant, that he was flippant and harsh, that he ruled over those he had made with indifference, that this God didn't really care about his creatures at all.

And as humans doubted their loved-ness so they became less and less lovely towards themselves and towards each other. Un-loved-ness spiralled out of control.

I question whether God loves me. With all my flaws and failings, it is difficult to comprehend that there is a God of the Universe and that this Almighty, holy King loves me. He loves me even when I turn my back on him. He loves me in the middle of all my mess.

But Jesus came to convince us of this truth - the truth of a God who loves us as we are even when we consider ourselves utterly unlovely. He came to put God's love for the world, and the people in it, on display in the most dramatic way possible. He came to prove to us that God is a God of love. He came to show us in a way that we could finally understand what love really looked like. Real love looks like dying in someone else's place. There is no greater definition of love than to willingly lay down your life for someone else, especially for those who have rejected and abandoned you. If we are waiting to know that we are loved then we need to look to the cross to remind ourselves of what love looks like. 

Reflection: 

In his book, Sacred Fire, Ronald Rolhesier remembers the words of a wise friend who was trying to teach him about prayer. He said this:
"You must try to pray so that, in your prayer, you open yourself in such a way that sometime – perhaps not today, but sometime – you are able to hear God say to you: `I love you!’ These words, addressed to you by God, are the most important words you will ever hear."

Spend some time in prayer this morning allowing God to address you in this way.

Advent 15: Promise Keeper

Scripture:
"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God." 2 Corinthians 1:20

Song: Yes and Amen

Breaking promises always hurts. Whether it is the tiny child whose Dad promised to take him to play football on Sunday morning but then got too carried away with his work, the teenage girl sitting at home because the guy who promised to take her to year year 11 prom ditched her at the last minute, or the couple struggling to pick up the pieces of a marriage where one person has been unfaithful. It is always painful to have been let down, especially by those you trust the most, by the people you let get the closest.

Israel had been waiting a long time for God to fulfil his promises to them. It must have felt very much like God had forgotten them. It must have felt like the one they believed to be totally trustworthy had suddenly abandoned them. They must have started to doubt God's character, to question whether he really was the good God and loving Father that he claimed to be. They had been promised a Messiah and a Messiah had not come. Generations had clung to the promise of God's saviour but hundreds of years had passed and there was no sign of him.

And then Jesus turned up.

And God said, this is the One, this is who you have been waiting for. He is the proof that I am who I say I am. I am the promise keeper. Every promise I have ever made to you is fulfilled in Jesus. He is the 'Yes!' to all my promises. He is the way that you know I am trustworthy. I do not lie. (Titus 1:2) I do not change. (Malachi 3:6) I always keep my promises. I promised to never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:8) and Jesus shows you that this is true. I promised that I would rescue you from your sin (Isaiah 43:1) and Jesus has come to do that. I promised that I would love you forever and have loved you since before time began (Jeremiah 31:3) and Jesus has come to demonstrate exactly what that love looks like.

We have all been lied to. We have all been let down. We all know the deep pain of a broken promise. God does not lie. He does not let his people down. It is impossible for him to break his promises. It would be against his very nature for him to do so. (Hebrews 6:18)

Reflection: Bring God the hurt of your broken promises this morning. Tell him about the times you have been hurt and let down by those you trusted. Ask for his healing and pray that he would reveal himself as the Promise-Keeper, as the the one always tells us the truth.

Advent 14: Way-Maker

Scripture: “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:5-6) 

Song: Way-Maker

2020 is a year in which many of us might feel like we have lost our way - or even lost the plot. It has been a year unlike any other: we have faced challenges and griefs that we never could have predicted and that we weren't prepared for. As the year comes to an end, and our thoughts turn towards what 2021 brings, there is an ache in my heart for a new direction, an ache for a guide into the unknown, an ache for one who can signpost where exactly it is that we are meant to be going, and how we will get there. 

Jesus is the original pioneer. In Greek, the word used to describe him is archēgon. (Hebrews 2:10, 12:2) He is the one who goes first. The first in a long procession. He is the one who went ahead of us to make a way where there was no way before.

Before Jesus, there was no way back to the Father. No one had yet blazed the trail. No one had done what needed to be done to make it possible to come to God. But Jesus did it. Jesus broke through death and hell so that we could follow him. It is because he was resurrected from the dead that we can have confidence that we too will be raised one day. (1 Corinthians 15:20)

Jesus' disciples were troubled when he spoke to them of heaven. (John 14:1-14) Thomas was scared that they wouldn’t be able to make it there on their own. Jesus told them that they knew the way to where he was going but they were terrified that really they didn't, that they would get lost somehow en route. But Jesus reassured them: he had not only made the way for them; he himself was that way. "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." (John 14:6) It was through him, and through faith in his death and resurrection, that people would be brought back to God.

The way is open. Heaven's gates swing wide.

Reflection: Jesus came to make a way. This Christmas, let us remember that the baby who was born was born to die. Jesus willingly came knowing that the only way to bring us back to his Father was by embracing death at the cross. He knew what it would cost him to be our pioneer. He knew the price of what he was about to do but he still chose to come, he chose to become one of the ones he wanted to save. 

All sufficient sacrifice

So freely given

Such a price

Bought our redemption

Heaven's gates swing wide.

Advent 13: Bread

Scripture: “Here is the bread which comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:50-51) 

Song: Behold the Lamb

When God’s people were lost and wandering in the desert, they cried out to God to reveal himself as Provider. They cried out for someone to give them the food they so desperately needed, and God did. He gave them Manna – bread that fell from heaven each day, just enough to satisfy their hungry bellies to last until the next morning. If anyone tried to collect extra and keep it for himself, the bread would rot and become inedible. God wanted his people to come to him and trust in his provision on a daily basis: give us today our daily bread.

Jesus says that his coming is God’s ultimate act of provision. The Israelites received bread to eat but it was only a temporary solution. They would still die. Jesus says that he himself is an altogether different kind of bread: he is the bread of life. Manna was just a foretaste; Jesus is the real deal. He is the one God provides to take away our sin, to bring us close to the Father. Jesus will not only give us what we need to last out the day; what he gives endures into eternity. We don't just need to come to him because we are hungry; we come to him because we are dying.

We praise God because he is the provider. He is the one who gives us life and sunrise and rain and crops and friends and family and shelter and comfort; he is the one to thank for the warmth of the radiator in this room, for the clothes on my skin, for the steaming cup of tea in my hand, for the laptop on which I’m typing, for the glasses I’m wearing. But his provision extends beyond the physical, beyond our daily needs and longings. God’s greatest act of provision was in giving his Son. In giving the One we most needed.

And it is this One who beckons us to come. Jesus says that he has done what is needed and he invites us to feast on him. This is a peculiar metaphor and it offended most of Jesus’ listeners with its vampire-like connotations. What does it really mean to feast on Jesus? I think it means that Jesus wants relationship. He wants intimacy. He has given all that was needed but he wants us to acknowledge it and be thankful for it. He wants us to delight in what he has bought for us: life with himself and with the Father now and forever. He does not want passive recipients. This morning, he wants us to choose to come to him, to choose to acknowledge him, to say thank you.

Reflection: Spend some time in thanksgiving today, thanking God for all that he has given, and for the most precious gift of His Son.

Advent 12: Servant

Scripture: "The son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

Song: Servant King

Jesus defied all expectations of the Messiah - God's chosen one. Israel was waiting, longing, for someone to come and free them from the oppression of Roman rule; they were hoping for a powerful King, an unbeatable military ruler, who would come and conquer and make everything right. 

But our God - who loves to turn the world upside down - flipped the notion of what it means to lead completely on its head: his chosen leader would come in such a humble way that people would fail to recognise him. His chosen leader would come as a servant.

In the middle of an argument between two of his disciples - James and John - about which one of them is better (Mark 10:35-45), which one of them deserves the best place in his kingdom - Jesus tells them that they are entirely missing the point: if you want to be a leader then you need to be a servant. 

Jesus came to serve us. His is a ministry of feet washing, of doing what no one else will do, of sitting amongst the broken and the outcast and being treated as one of them. Jesus' servant heart led his to the cross. His love for those who rejected him was so great that he would serve them - even as they scorned and mocked him - by dying for them. Jesus is the servant king.

Reflection: Jesus calls those who follow him to be like him. After he washes his disciples' feet, Jesus tells his friends that they are to treat his act as an example to follow. (John 13:13-17) Who can we serve today? Think of someone who needs to know that Jesus loves them and do something practical to demonstrate that love today. 

Advent 11: High Priest

Scripture: "Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself." (Hebrews 7:27) 

Song: We Three Kings

Priests get a lot of bad press. Some of it, sadly, is warranted. The news is full of awful stories documenting the abuse of children and vulnerable adults at the hands of men and women who are meant to be serving and protecting them. The church fares little better in the news cycle. It is all too common to hear of men and women left hurting by churches that failed to demonstrate the love and goodness of God.

But, this is what the Bible tells us all of humanity was waiting for. Just as Israel were waiting for a good shepherd rather than a bad shepherd, so too were they waiting for a good priest.

In the Old Testament, the priests were the ones who risked their lives for the people. They were responsible for bringing a sinful people before God. They carried the twelve tribes of Israel into God's presence on their breastplate (Exodus 28:15-30) They took the blood of animal sacrifices into the holiest part of the temple, the Holy of Holies, to cleanse the people of their sin. 

The only problem was that the priests were sinful themselves. They could not ever really deal with the problem of our separation from God because they too were separate from him; they too knew that they could not stand before a perfect God; they too were fearful of coming into his terrifyingly and beautifully Holy presence because they knew that his holiness would not endure their sin. 

This isn't a picture of God that is held up very often at Christmas time; we coo over the baby in the manger and forget that our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29) We forget that Isaiah was so terrified of standing before God that he thought he was going to die (Isaiah 6:5). We forget that the most normal response in the bible to encountering God is to fall flat on your face because you know that he is worthy and you are not. We have no right to come into God's presence and no means of getting there by ourselves.

And yet, on that first Christmas, the Magi gave Jesus the gift of frankincense because they knew he was going to be a priest (Exodus 30:23, 34); he was the one we needed to come to give an altogether better kind of sacrifice which would deal with the problem of sin forever. He would give himself.

And, he would keep on giving of himself. The incredible thing about Jesus' priesthood is that it isn't just about the one act of the cross. He died to bring us near to God, to bring us back to him, but that isn't the only way in which he is a priest. His priestliness isn't defined by a single act of sacrifice. He is still a priest. Even now, he sits beside the Heavenly Father and he prays for his people. He prays for us to draw near. He prays for us to have faith. He prays like he did for Peter that we will keep going even when it seems impossible to do so. (Luke 22:32) He prays that we will know him better. He prays that we will be with him. He prays for us in our every hurt and weakness. At this very moment Jesus is interceding for the people he loves. (Romans 8:34)

Reflection: Sometimes, when I pray with my daughter she says that she wants me to pray instead. And of course I do. But I also, gently, remind her that Jesus loves the unique sound of her voice; he is waiting for a conversation with her; her prayers, and worries and thoughts and dreams have a special place in Jesus' heart. 

Spend a few moments this morning in conversation with Jesus - our High Priest - - knowing that we can approach his throne of Grace with confidence, knowing that we can run to him and spill our hearts out to him, knowing that he is praying for us even as we pray to him. (Hebrews 7:25)

Advent 10: Light

Scripture:
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned." (Isaiah 9:2)

"The rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace." (Luke 1:78-79)

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)

Song: Light of the World

The promise of Jesus is a promise of light. It is a promise of truth and guidance, of hope for the hopeless, of light breaking into the darkest places. The world feels pretty dark. Sometimes it feels like light has been completely extinguished, that the darkness is too strong to be overcome, that God has forgotten or is absent or has turned his face away. This is perhaps particularly true in December, the darkest time of the year, the time when we ache for the coming of the Winter Solstice that light might seep back into our mornings and evenings again. 

But Jesus says this is not so: his light is greater than any darkness; the darkest of night is as the noonday sun to him. (Psalm 139:11-12) Those who choose to follow him need not fear the darkness, no matter how dark it gets, because He is with them - He will give them light.

I long to know the fullness of this reality. I catch it in glimpses: the wane of dawn breaking into my life and the lives of those around me; weak beams of early morning sunlight on the horizon. An apology when before there would have been anger; hope for change when before there was disillusion and despair; laughter amidst tears; community and family where there was once isolation.

The light is dawning, and one day Jesus promises that he will bring us to a place where night no longer exists. We will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun because He will be our light. (Revelation 22:5) In the meantime, we wait and we pray. We look to the Light of the World and we ask that light would shine in the darkness. We ask that he would shine his light into our hearts and that we would know what it is to have the light of life. Not just in eternity, but now. 

Reflection: This world is urgently in need of light to shine in the darkness, for truth to rule instead of lies. Let us bring the darkest places of this world before God and cry out for Him to act. Let us bring the lost and the hopeless, the victims of abuse, the children trafficked into a strange land, the prisoners, the oppressed, the homeless, the starving, the hurting, and the dying before him and let us say, Let there be light.

Advent 9: Substitute

Scripture:
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Song: How Deep the Father's Love For Us

What does it mean that Jesus stood in our place? That the Son of God came to be our substitute?

In part it means that we needed Jesus to come. That is a sobering thought. It is easy to get tangled up in the tinsel of Christmas and forget that this tiny, little, beautiful baby would one day be nailed to a cross. Upon the shoulders of the man this baby would become, the pain and wrongdoing and shame and brokenness of the whole world would be placed.

God’s story is that of a Father longing to be restored to his children. It is the story of a terrible rift that has been made between God and the people who have turned their back on him. The story of a perfect, good and holy God who is grieved by the way the world and the people in it hurt themselves and each other, who cannot ignore wrongdoing and yet loves those who do wrong.

In her astounding book, “The Crucifixion”, Fleming Rutledge asks this question: “What sort of predicament are you and I in that we should require the crucifixion of God?”

When I allow the words of that question to sink it, it is deeply uncomfortable. I do not understand the gravity of sin. I do really understand the necessity of the cross. I do not really think that I deserved to die and be separated from God. I do not want to believe that I needed someone to stand in my place and take away my sin because I couldn’t do it on my own.

But, it was my sin that held Jesus to the cross. It was my rejection of God that caused Jesus to be rejected by his own Father. I needed Jesus to take my place. I needed Jesus to become the perfect exchange. He became my substitute. 

In the moment of crying out on the cross that His Father had forsaken him, Jesus took on my estrangement from God. He was rejected so that I could be brought close. He became Fatherless that I might know God as Father.

Reflection: Read the lyrics of the today’s song. Let us ask God to show us the beauty of the sacrifice Jesus made and to reveal to us the reason that he was willing to stand in our place: because he loved us.

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

Advent 8: Healer

Scripture:

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. (Isaiah 35:5-7)

Song: My Healer

God is a healer. It is part of his character, the heart of who he is. His name is Yahweh-Rophe, the God who heals you. When Jesus was on the earth he revealed God's character as a healer. John the Baptist, chained and desperate in prison, sent word to ask if Jesus was really the Promised One. Jesus' reply, echoing Isaiah’s ancient prophecy, was that he must be because he was doing what only God's anointed one could do: he was healing.

"When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’

Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who doesn't stumble on account of me." (Matthew 11:2-6)

Jesus quotes the ancient words of Isaiah back to John. In Isaiah 35, the picture is of a barren and weary land that is longing for rain. The promise is that one day, what is parched and dead will spring back to life, what is broken will finally be fixed, the wilderness will become an oasis. God's people are told to take courage; to strengthen feeble hands and faltering footsteps because the healing God will come. And when Jesus does come this is exactly what he does: his acts of healing as he walks the earth testify to the reality of who he is. He is the sent One. He is the waited for One with the power to heal and restore and make all things new.

What about us? What about now? God is the healer and yet we remain hurting. Prayers remain unanswered. Jesus came and he healed once, but what do we do when we ask for healing and it doesn't happen? Where is the Healer in among cancer, and miscarriage, chronic pain, and unfair death? Where is the Healer amongst a global pandemic that rages unchecked across the world?

I have no answers. I do not know why God sometimes heals and he sometimes doesn't. But the promise of Jesus as Healer is a promise that extends beyond this life. One day we will be healed. We will be fully restored. Our broken bodies will be made perfect. And in the meantime, Jesus works out an altogether deeper kind of healing. It is by his wounds that we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5). At the cross Jesus healed our relationship with the Father. He is not content with physical well-being; he wants it all fixed. Mind. Body. Soul. Spirit. That's quite an ambitious project. It cost Jesus his life.

Reflection: 

Father God, 

Help me to see what you have healed instead of arguing about what you haven't. 

Help me to trust in your healing character even when I don't see it. 

Thank you for Jesus and his healing work on the cross. 

Because of his wounds I am healed. 

Because of his blood I am washed clean of sin and shame. 

Because of his death I live. 

Amen.

Advent 7: Comfort

Scripture: 

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair. (Isaiah 61:1-3) 

Song: At the Foot of the Cross


Part of Jesus' job description is a comforter. In Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus speaks to the people in the temple he claims the words of the prophet Isaiah as his own and says that he is the one who fulfils them (Luke 4:16-20)

Jesus says that he has come to “bind up the broken-hearted.” Healing hurting hearts was - and is - his mission; it was his reason for coming and it is what he is in the business of doing today.

In our current climate, this is exactly who we need Jesus to be. We are all in need of comfort. We all have wounds that need to be bound.

The Jesus that we see in the bible is a man who is familiar with sorrow. He does not stand on the edge of human hurt. He is not a distant God who stands unmoved. He does not watch us crying with a cold and hardened heart. He wades right in and lives amongst us. He embraces the mess of life as a human being. He experiences the fullness of its joys and its pains. He walks amongst those who grieve and hurt and get angry. He kneels beside Martha and Mary in the dirt to weep with them over the death of their brother. (John 11:35) He is moved by compassion for the crowds of people who wander the streets. (Matthew 9:36) He stops what he is doing to comfort a bereaved mother because his heart is pained by her loss. (Luke 7:11-16)

God's heart of compassion is perfectly revealed in his Son, Jesus. He is the Father of Compassion, the God of all comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3) He longs to be welcomed into our hurt. Answers do not come easily. Grief is not quickly abated. The loss and confusion of this year is raw and painful. But Jesus promises to be with us in the midst of our pain, even as we struggle to make sense of it.

My anger often prevents me from acknowledging this. I am so busy being mad at God that I refuse the comfort that is offered. I won't let God share my grief with me because I'm too busy blaming him for causing it. I am waiting to be comforted, and yet I lash out at the one who tries to do it. But Jesus is persistent. Faithful. Unchanging. He will comfort us. If we let him.

Reflection: 

Father of compassion, I pray that I would know you in the midst of everything that today brings. I choose to acknowledge you in pain and in joy, in sorrow and in laughter. You are the comforter. Help me to remember that. Do not let me cut you off from what I am going through. Do not let me block you out from my struggle, my questions, my doubt. I welcome you in today. I ask for your comfort today, for myself and for this world which so desperately needs it. Help me to know you as the comforter that you are. Amen.

Advent 6: Peace

Scripture:

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

Song: Wonderful Counsellor

We live in a world that longs for peace. The newspapers scream of our need for it. Right now, it feels like our societies are more divided and hurting than ever before. This year has cracked open deep wounds of racial inequality and political injustice and we see them laid bare and exposed on our newsfeeds and TV screens. We reel from the images of an Iranian family drowned in the Channel trying to reach safety in the UK. We stagger at the thought of 6.6 million Syrian refugees fleeing unthinkable horrors in a war that has ravaged their country.

When Isaiah, one of the prophets in the Old Testament, spoke of who Jesus would be, who the waited for One was, he named him the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah said that in spite of all appearances, despite the violence and pain of the world as it is, one day someone would come to sort it out. This man would be a great judge: he would settle the disputes that ravage nations and peoples. He would ensure that every boot used for battle, every blood-stained piece of armour, would be thrown away and burned because it would not be needed any more. The people themselves would beat their swords into ploughs and their spears into pruning hooks. On that day there would be no more war. No more armies. No more child soldiers. No more refugees. No more tears and grief. No more death.

We do not live in that day. We live waiting for the fulfilment of that promise. We wait for the final day when Jesus comes back and sort things out once and for all. We live in the not yet. And it is painful.

And yet, in the waiting, Jesus is still our Prince of Peace. He still offers peace to his people. As we pray for peace between nations, and within our own nation, Jesus extends his peace to us.

To my anxious soul, which frets about Christmas presents, and what people think of me, and whether my friend is going to be ok, and what my children’s future will be like, and a thousand other unnecessary things, He says "Peace be with you" (John 20:19).

He says, "I'm leaving peace with you even though you can't see me. I'm giving you the gift of peace and I'm giving it to you in a way that the world can't. You don't need to be troubled. You don't need to be afraid." (John 14:27)

He says, "Do not be anxious. I am close. Come to me and talk to me about it. Leave it with me. And I will give you a peace that you don't understand; a peace that will keep you safe and calm your heart." (Philippians 4:5-7)

He says, "Trust me. I'm the rock. I'm the solid ground. I will keep you in perfect peace if you will just look to me. Trust that I am who I say I am and that I want to give you the peace I say I can give you." (Isaiah 26:3-4)

Reflection: Read through the verses paraphrased above, or look them up in your own bible. Remember that Jesus is the Prince of Peace today.

Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, 

I want to know your peace today. 

I want my heart to be filled with it to the brim so that in the middle of any and every situation, I am totally secure. 

Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, 

Please give me peace today. 

Give it to me in the way that only you can. 

Show me that my feet are standing on solid ground even when it feels like everything has given way. 

Amen 

Advent 5: Shepherd

Scripture:

"I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd." (Ezekiel 34:23)

Song: The Lord is My Shepherd

Shepherd is a bit of a weird image for us Westerners and city people who don't really know what a sheep is unless it's given to us as a lamb chop. But, for God’s people, Israel, the promise of a shepherd was the promise of someone to look after them. It was the promise of someone to search out those who were lost and scared and lonely and bring them back; the promise of protection, of a safe place, of provision of food and water and everything they needed.

This year, the news has been full of stories is bad leadership. Whichever side of the political spectrum we stand on, we all know what it is to look at those in charge and feel a sense of exasperation and despair. We have all had experiences of bad leadership: people running our countries in ways we don't agree with, decisions being made that aren't for our good, family members who were meant to look after us but hurt us, bosses who cared for themselves and for their pay cheques but for no one else.

In the Old Testament, this has been the experience of God's people: their rulers, their shepherds, have been pretty awful. They've acted for their own good rather than for the good of the flock. They've made sure they're fed and happy and satisfied but left the people, the sheep, to starve.

But in amongst this mess, God speaks and he promises that one day He himself will come and will rule as a Good Shepherd. He will live amongst his people and they will know him and trust him and follow him. He promises that "as a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so I will look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered...I myself will tend my sheep and make them lie down...I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak." (Ezekiel 34:11-16). His promise is, ultimately, that he will prove himself to be this good shepherd by dying for those he loves. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will lay down his life for his sheep. 

Reflection: And so, today, no matter how lost or estranged or far from God we might feel, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, promises to look for us, heal us and to bring us home. In John 10:27, Jesus says this: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Spend some time today in quiet listening to God’s voice – ask him to help you to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd calling your names so that you can follow him.

Advent 4: Rescuer

Scripture: "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:13-14) 

Song: Rescuer

We need to be rescued. That is not a very appealing thought. Despite childhood fantasies of heroes in white shining armour, the fact remains that we would all rather be the saviour rather than the saved; we would rather be the rescuer than the ones in need of rescue.

But this is what God's people, Israel, were waiting for: they were waiting for one who could rescue them from themselves; they were waiting for someone who could pull them up out of the pit where their sin had landed them. As, in these dark days of Winter, we wait each day for sunrise, for that glimmer of hope on the horizon, the moment when night again becomes light, so too God's people were waiting for someone to rescue them from darkness.

The story of the bible is the story of a people in need of a Rescuer, a story of something that cannot be fixed by those that broke it. And that is the starting point of being rescued: admitting our inability to get ourselves out of the situation. Admitting that we need help: that moment when we throw our hands in the air, when we come to the end of ourselves and confess that we cannot do it.

I don't like to confess that I can't do something, that I can't dig myself out of a hole, pull myself out of the ditch. But I can't. I cannot rescue myself. I cannot stop myself from being sinful. I cannot cure my own heart. I cannot wipe away the things I have done and said and should have done and should have said and pretend to be innocent. I cannot stand in front of a holy God and claim to have never done anything to offend.

And so, like most of us I think, I stack up the odd good deed here and there. I masquerade over my sin with attempts to like people, be kind, be generous, do better, be gooder. But, there is nothing so deceitful as the human heart. (Jeremiah 17:9) We kid ourselves into thinking that we are ok; we are the good people; we might think truly atrocious things about others but we don't act on them; we might get angry and shout and rage but we don't kill people. We might commit the odd sin, but that doesn't make us a sinner. We can still work our way up to a perfect God by trying to be a little bit more perfect.

But the very fact that Jesus needed to come defies this kind of thinking. He is the God who comes down down down into humanity knowing that we can never work our way up. He is the one who chooses to abandon heaven so that we might join him there one day. He is the one who redeems us from the mess we have made. Jesus stepped down into our darkness to bring us into his light. There was no other way. We could not rescue ourselves. We needed a rescuer.

Reflection: Let us use these words from Psalm 103 to thank God for what Jesus came to do for us:

Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:1-5)

Advent 3: King

Scripture: 

“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.” (2 Samuel 7:11-14)

Song: Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, his ancestor King David was promised that one day someone from his family line would become the eternal King. Unlike any other king, this king would rule forever. He would never be supplanted. He would never die. He would always be in charge, always be reigning.

If Jesus being a baby is offensive, then his claim to be the everlasting King is surely more so. At the start of the Christmas story, even before Jesus has done anything, his claim to be a King is already causing division. Herod's reaction to his birth is violent: he is so disturbed by the thought of someone coming to take away his own power that he orders the murder of all male children under the age of two.

And then we have the Magi, the wise men. In total contrast to the fear and angry of Herod, these powerful rulers are filled with joy at the thought of Jesus as their king. When they see him, they immediately bow down to worship him and give him gifts that are symbolic of the King he will become. Even though Jesus is just a tiny child, they recognise that what God said to Mary is true: here is one who will reign forever.

What about us? How do we react to Jesus as King? We are not a people who like authority. We love to criticise politicians and those in power. We want them to take the flack, we want them to sort everything out but, if I'm honest, I don't really want anyone to tell me what to do. I don't want anyone to make decisions that are going to affect my life and force me to change anything. But this is exactly what Jesus does: calling him King means putting him in charge. It means that today is not my own. My time is not my own. Calling Jesus King means joyful surrender; it means handing over to the one who promises to reign well and reign forever. Is that something we are willing to do this morning?

Reflection 

What does it mean to accept Jesus as our King? Spend a couple of minutes inviting Jesus to be the King over different areas in your life. There might be some areas that are harder to surrender than others! As you do so, remember that Jesus is not only a King, but a good King, a perfect King who promises that he loves us and wants what is best for our lives