“David Dimbleby has got a tattoo!”
“Jeremy Paxman has grown a beard!”
What’s wrong with these news stories? Well, it seems to me that they shouldn’t really be news stories. Not just in the sense that these issues don’t seem particularly newsworthy when compared with international conflict and natural disasters but also because they have that strange, confusing dimension, of being concerned with the news casters rather than the news makers.
Something similarly mixed up can happen around Christmas time. There can be a tendency to focus on the method of broadcasting the good news rather than the message itself.
We can become so absorbed in all the stuff that happens around Christmas – the eating, the decorating, the gift giving… did I mention the eating? Even the great things like Carol services can become disconnected from the message itself.
As a preacher, I often struggle to find new ways of expressing the good news – but there can never be anything stale or uninteresting about the message of Christmas.
Maybe we just need to share it as simply as we can, let the reality of it make its own impact.
So, here is the news:
God became a man.
God, who had visited his creation many times before, entered into his creation, was born, took on flesh and blood, and lived among us.
“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”
Luke 2:14
No matter which way you take it, that’s an amazing, world-changing message.
Our response?
Faith, belief, repentance.
I hope you enjoy celebrating Advent and Christmas this year.
Yours in Christ
Gareth