[This reflection by Michael Goble was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 08/Dec/2024]
With Christmas approaching, we often have requests from family members about what we would like as a present. I must admit that these days I am quite happy to receive a surprise gift however small. When I was young I received a gift that was the best and most important in my life, and that has been the case ever since. (more…)
[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during December 2023]
Well, as it happens, today it is mine. One wintry December day sometime in the middle of the previous century the ambient noise level of a north London suburb was suddenly raised by several decibels. Actually I am speculating there as I have no memory of the event myself but I understand that it is normal for a new baby to announce his arrival. (more…)
[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during December 2023]
In the more-established western denominations of the Church the period of approximately four weeks prior to Christmas is called ‘Advent’. Essentially, Advent means ‘coming’ and it is a time during which the Church’s adherents are encouraged to think about the coming of Jesus into the world. Many Churches organise special events, such as carol services, during this season. (more…)
[This reflection by Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 03/Dec/2023]
It’s December, and at last we can legitimately play Christmas songs and put up decorations. I know there are some crazy people who do that in November, but that’s just weird! With that in mind, as I was putting this Sunday’s service together I delved into my Christmas Carol collection, trying to decide what we are going to launch this advent season with. One of my favourite carols is O Come O Come Emmanuel, and I was struck by how poignant and relevant the lyrics are of that hymn written over 150 years ago.
O come O come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Our news reels have been filled with stories of hate, pain, death, and separation. We rejoice at the release of many captives this past week, and yet we recognise that this conflict that has a long history, is far from over and there seems little hope of resolution and peace.
However, during this advent season, particularly on the first Sunday of Advent, we are reminded that our hope doesn’t come through negotiations or cease fires, as welcome as they maybe, but in the reality of Jesus’ promised return. Unlike Christmas, where we celebrate Jesus’ coming into poverty and obscurity, when Jesus returns again, he will return in power and majesty. Wars will cease, death will be defeated, and God’s Kingdom will come in all its fullness. So as we wait for this momentous time, let us pray Come, Lord Jesus, Come – Bring your light into our dark world, bring the miraculous into desperate situations, and bring us peace and hope into our lives.
Resources:
Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.
Bible dates:
Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.
Horley Baptist Church online[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during November 2023]
Summer holidays, Halloween, Bonfire Night, Black Friday – what’s next on the advertising agencies’ calendar?
Ah, yes! Christmas is coming, as indeed it has for the past 2000 years. Every year those with responsibility for Christmas activities face the same question: “What can we do to make Christmas different this year?” Advertising agents and TV producers have been working on it for months; now window dressers, stationers, choir-masters, caterers and preachers are all looking for something to add a new slant on a story that we have all heard before.
Maybe it’s easier if we just leave Christ out of Christmas altogether.
?⛄????❄
This search for something new is not, itself, new. The apostle Paul encountered something similar in Greece in 49AD:[1]
Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas. Acts 17 v21 [BSB]
Are we tempted to join the Athenians and the other groups mentioned above in speculating about aspects of Christmas beyond those recorded in the Gospel accounts?
… Surely Mary did not walk all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Maybe Joseph possessed a donkey – we often see one portrayed in the stable scene. And why didn’t they go back to Nazareth after the census?
… Did anyone else see the choir of angels who sang to the shepherds? Such a spectacular event would certainly have attracted the attention of other people who were out and about that evening. And who looked after the sheep whilst the shepherds went for a night on the town?
… Perhaps the Wise Men were descendents of the Jewish nobles exiled to Babylon and whose ancestors chose not to return with Ezra or Nehemiah. And did their gifts pay for the flight to Egypt?
?
As we have seen in Ecclesiastes, seeking for something new is futile:
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1 v9 [NIVUK]
Surely we should not expend so much effort on seeking something new when the answer lies with something old.
Tell me the old, old story Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, Of Jesus and His love.
Tell me the story simply, As to a little child;
For I am weak and weary, And helpless and defiled.Tell me the story slowly, That I may take it in,
That wonderful redemption, God’s remedy for sin.
Tell me the story often For I forget so soon!
The “early dew” of morning Has passed away at noon.
– Arabella Katherine Hankey (1866)[2]
†
References:
[1] timeline at Biblehub.com
[2] full text at Hymnary.org
Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.
Bible dates:
Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.
Horley Baptist Church online[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during December 2022]
Once in royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle shed,
where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed [1]
What sort of picture do these words invoke? Have years of familiarity with the Christmas story created a sanitised image of a delicate wooden cot lined with clean hay and surrounded by some well-behaved cattle?
There is a cattle shed alongside our garden; we are familiar with its distinctive characteristics. A cow can be likened to a food processor into which you feed green grass and from which you obtain white milk. There is a by-product to this process, brown in colour and malodorous to the senses. Even in modern times, ‘mucking-out’ is a regular activity for those who keep dairy cattle and it is fair to assume that first-century animals were similarly behaved.
Child in the manger, infant of Mary [2]
A manger is a food trough for livestock of various kinds. It is a functional item, probably rough hewn, certainly not a piece of fine furniture. Fodder would be dumped into it;, it might contain insects or dead mice, the animals would slobber over it. Shepherds might be used to such conditions; wealthy astrologers certainly not.
Both these Christmas carols were written by devout women with strong clerical connections. They were both prolific writers of devotional songs and poetry. Did they have some special inspiration or did they succumb to artistic licence? Isaiah certainly had some inspiration when he wrote:
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 54 v2-3 [NIVUK]
The Biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus are primarily those in the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke. Neither of those accounts mentions a ‘lowly cattle shed’ with ‘the oxen standing by’; furthermore, Matthew tells us that the unspecified number of wise men came some time later, after the family had moved into a house. Whatever the actual details, being born into such circumstances was just the first of many indignities that this baby would endure during his time on earth, and throughout the years since.
Child who inherits all our transgressions, all our demerits on Him fall.
But Christmas is not the end of the story.
And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love,
for that child, so dear and gentle, is our Lord in heaven above,
and he leads his children on to the place where he is gone.
Is that child in the manger still an outcast and stranger or do you recognise him as Lord of all??
Resources:
[1] Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848
[2] Mary MacDonald & Lachlan McBean, 1888
Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.
Bible dates:
Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.
Horley Baptist Church online