Minister’s Musing for Christmas 2018
9th December 2018
Accompanied by her 4 year old son, a mother was driving home from the supermarket one evening during Advent.
As they motored along, mum pointed out the Christmas lights on the roof of a house.
“Oooh, look at the Christmas lights” she said…There was no answer…
“Look at the Christmas lights on the roof of that house”… Still no answer…
With the crucial viewing moment about to pass by, mum’s voice was louder and more urgent the third time of saying “Will you look at the Christmas lights on the roof of the house before they disappear”.
Her son finally replied… “They’re not Christmas lights mummy, they’re just Father Christmas and some reindeer… the real Christmas lights are angels and stars… they’re just Christmas decorations!”
How true!
“An angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shone over them” Luke 2: 9a(Good News Translation)
“On their way they saw the same star they had seen in the east. When they saw it, how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was”. Matthew 2: 9-10(Good News Translation)
Perhaps the boy’s lack of response was the meaningful silence in which he was working out how best to tell mum that she had misunderstood the crucial role of light in the Christmas story – the shining angels and star, which pointed both outdoor dwelling, humble shepherds and well educated foreign men to the one whose birth we celebrate… the light of Christ which came… and still comes into the world.
This Christmas-time, take time to discern the real Christmas lights from the decorations. Look for the angels (God’s messengers) and stars… and for Christ himself.
Revd. Janine Atkinson
SPACE Churches take time to think