The world can wait

  Only 1 more day to go….. have you bought your sprouts yet? Do you have enough mince pies to see you through to New Year? Are you ready for Christmas Day? Christmas has been described by John Piper as “the dawning of indestructible joy, because the joy Jesus was bringing into the world was like no other kind in history.” The joy that Jesus brings us is the very joy he has in God the Father, which he had for all eternity and will have forever. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus said: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15 v9-11) If the coming of Jesus is the dawning of indestructible joy, no wonder Luke begins and ends his gospel with great joy. Zechariah is told that his son John will be a joy and delight (1 v14) John leaps for joy in Eliza...

  Christmas normally involves travel, as families get together - but not this year!  Not so many will be driving home for Christmas in 2020 as a consequence of the social restrictions due to the pandemic.    Many people were travelling the first Christmas. Pregnant Mary and her husband Joseph walked 90 miles over the hills to reach Bethlehem. Many others like them were travelling because the Roman census required them to return to their ancestral towns to register. Some shepherds travelled a much shorter distance from the fields outside Bethlehem to see a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger, whose birth had been announced to them by angels!  The Magi (wise men) came many hundreds of miles, possibly on camels, as they followed a strange star in order to give presents to a new-born king.    But the person who travelled the furthest that first Christmas was the baby in the manger.  The distance he came isn’t measured in miles, but in...

On Christmas Eve in 1965 something unusual happened in Barwell in Leicestershire.  Suddenly there was a blazing light in the skies.  A deafening crash boomed across the countryside.  People were alarmed.  Strange things started to land on the ground.  And then, as quickly as it began, it ended. What had happened?  A meteorite had struck.  Appropriately, astronomers think that it was about the size of a turkey when it broke through the earth’s atmosphere.  It was followed by a sonic boom as the rock became a fireball and exploded into thousands of pieces.  So there was light.  There was noise.  There was alarm.  It was all very unusual. Luke 2:8-20 tells us about another occasion when there was light in the sky, when there was noise, and when there was great alarm.  A crowd of angels appear.  There’s a blazing light in the sky as they come.  The countryside reverberates to the explosive roar of their wor...

Christmas. Baubles. Tinsel. Snow. Turkeys. Reindeer. Last-minute shopping on Amazon Prime. Except, if you're reading this, you're probably more into the real meaning of Christmas, aren't you? Jesus. Mary. Joseph. Shepherds. Angels. Magi. Magi? What are they? Well, if you're into romantic fiction (which I'm not), I imagine the Magi are just the kind of people for you. Mysterious strangers, from far-off lands. Matthew describes them, in the second chapter of his gospel (Matthew 2:1-12). Why not read that before you carry on here? Whether we're fans of Christian romance or not, we should certainly find these mysterious Magi fascinating. Why? Not just because of the intrigue of the unusual. But because of what Matthew tells us they do. See, the chief priests and teachers of the law. The ones who knew the Scriptures which spoke about Jesus. They should have been the ones worshipping Jesus. But they didn't. They ignored him. And King He...

Today I have an interview with Pastor David Magowan from Carey Baptist Churc h . He's been  co-pastor at Carey since 2009, although we'd known each other some time before that. (Carey of course is the church that I attend.) The thinking behind this interview is that some people assume Pastor's work one day a week - Sunday. They turn up, preach and go home and don't come back til the following week. Unless there is a wedding on the Saturday. So I asked David if he'd do an interview to show us what a Pastor does during the rest of the week, and he very kindly agreed. So, thank you very much for sharing so openly and honestly with us.  On with the questions. 1.              How long have you been a Christian? Can you tell us a little about your conversion? I became a Christian when I was 14 years old.  My parents were Christians, and when I was born they were missionaries in Jamaica. My father...