Sunday

What are you doing for Christmas? Advent 4




This is the Fourth & last Sunday of Advent.

We are in the time of the year when 





is one of the things we talk about.  Today in church I spoke to the children about Peace because the story in Sunday School was about the Angel's Proclamation to the Shepherds.  



The other day there was a small explosion in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast, Northern Ireland (my country of residence again now and my country of birth).  
A bomb had been left outside a restaurant very close to St. Anne's Cathedral and and warning phoned in to the police.  While the nearby residents and the diners in the restaurants were being evacuated part of the device blew up but not enough to do any real damage or injury.





The Cathedral and all the people nearby were safe and sound but many of the comments of people who were there at that time is now anger and unrest about whether we really do have peace in Northern Ireland.


As I said above we are in the time of the year when Peace is one of the things we talk about, Peace on Earthwishing you Peace at ChristmasHave the Peace of God in your hearts.

But so many people are going around every day without this peace in their hearts.  


I believe this is simply because they can't believe that Peace is an easy thing to have. They think that it would be a complicated matter to make this type of change in their lives.  


Thankfully God has made it easy for us because He is the one who brings about this Peace through His Son Jesus.  


Our easy part is just to stop resisting and accept that God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to be our Peace.  Of course if we keep edging Jesus out of the picture at Christmas then it is harder to even draw our thoughts to Him let alone trust that He will be the way to Peace this Christmas. 


A couple of years ago I chose this Christmas card (below) that has the message I wanted to send, a message that I feel strongly about and also I loved the look of the card, simple but eye-catching at the same time.  I loved the card so much that I kept one so that each year I can display it.  I have even written on it from Fred & Sandra, because I want to continue to send this message to myself as well.





So this card is sitting at the front left hand side of the TV this year and will remind us of that special message.



   There is no Christmas without Jesus and there is no Peace without Him too.



Here is a very quick Advent video on Peace.






Do you keep Jesus at the heart of Christmas?



We have a true high Priest in Jesus

We have a Saviour who is at the right hand of God

We have a mediator in Jesus

We have life because Jesus came 

We know that Jesus Christ is Lord

We know that God gave Jesus to bring freedom and Joy 

We know that Jesus wants to send us to others 

We know that Jesus has the power over Satan so that we can be free









Are you still enjoying this time of preparation in the run up to Christmas?


Our oldest son Jonathan arrives from England very Soon!


So you can all guess some of the things I was up to this past week but some of the others might surprise you.

  • A bedroom had to be dusted and hoovered.
  • An ensuite had to be cleaned.
  • A bed had to be made.
  • A check of "plain biscuits" (this son nibbles on plain biscuits regularly throughout the day).
  • A check of "Northern Ireland Tea" (this son always goes back home with a supply of Northern Ireland Punjana Tea which is hard to get in England).
  • A certain Agatha Christie Poirot novel had to be started (the two of us are looking forward to sitting down one day to watch "Curtain" which I recorded when it was on ITV a few weeks ago and we had decided to reread the book first).


I bet you didn't guess the last 3 things!



It will feel even more like Christmas once Jonathan arrives as no doubt there will be renditions of



                                                                                      
which is His favourite Advent hymn.



I think there may also be

Lots of talk about 
blogs as he is also a blogger
church as he is a Pastor
books as he is an avid reader
food as he loves to eat.

Of course I can say all this because I know him so well.

Which makes me think about something Fred & I and a couple of friends were talking about last night. 

How can we express ourselves towards Jesus if 
we do not 
know Him well.  

Surely we will run out of words to describe Him, 
to praise Him 
and 
to worship Him.



Do you know Him well?