What a joyous time Christmas can be!

What a joyous time Christmas can be, especially if we don’t let the busyness get on top of us. What wonderful celebrations we can have! If we can just take the time, as we have done today, to think past the arrangements that have to be made, and the presents that have to be purchased, to the real reason this time of year is important.

We can really gain a lot of peace and hope singing these carols. This is because they speak of the Christ child, who came to save all the people of the earth from their sin and lostness. Whenever we need God the most, and that is often at the end of a busy and complex year of work and family life, we know that Jesus has come.

We can, as it were, move with the angels, or soar with the eagles, as we ponder the birth of Jesus in all its glory and significance. We know that having a relationship with Jesus is so transforming, because, when he came and then grew to manhood, Jesus healed the sick, befriended the outcast, taught the humble, and called ordinary people into his service.

I want everyone I see this Christmas to know that the child in the manger is the Jesus I seek to follow in life – the one who has made the ultimate difference in my life. I also want to dare to believe that God is working in other people’s lives preparing them to encounter the living Jesus in me and in us. I want to pray that my neighbours, next door and around the whole world, will come to worship Jesus as the Christ this Christmas. Heaven knows there are enough people searching for truth!

We sometimes bemoan the loss of spirituality at Christmas to the ravages of commercialism. But there’s no point in just being critical of this. We need to address this ourselves, and make a point of pointing to Jesus at every opportunity, the baby in the manger who became the Saviour of the World. May many people be able to start 2009 with new insight and enthusiasm because they have truly met Jesus this Christmas!

Let us mostly be thankful, really thankful, that God didn’t leave us to our own devices (and vices), but entered right into the midst of our everyday experience … to journey with us, to transform our thinking, to give us purpose and meaning, to make life make sense! Thank-you Saviour Jesus.

May our prayer read this way …

“Loving God, we worship You: the God who comes at Christmas.
You are not remote from the world You have made,
You have engaged with and entered this world through Your Son.
And each day You come to us,
Blessing us with Your presence.
Grant us the grace to welcome Your coming;
Inflame our desire to experience Your company;
Enlarge our vision to recognise Your care for our neighbour;
May Jesus be central in our thoughts and lives. Amen.”

With thanks to David Coffey for the inspiration in his recent little devotional book: "Joy to the World".