BH Bulletin - Wednesday 23 December 2020

Thought for the Day by Chris Dalton (BH Member)

I just wanted to say a few words about Christmas. Everywhere it seems that we are hearing that the government has ruined Christmas – that they promised something and then snatched it away last minute. I recognise that Christmas celebrations this year are going to be massively different.

People I would normally have at my house, or would have gone to visit I will not and have not seen apart from on a screen...and that makes me more blessed than many! Services in the building without being able to sing and touch are constraining. I don’t just object because I love Christmas and always have...                           

I object because Christmas hasn’t changed. It’s a fact of history. Christmas remains the best, mind-blowingly, heart-thumpingly, world-changing, BESTEST [I know it’s not a word but it should be!] news ever. It’s about a promise kept, a Saviour sent to a broken, desperate, hopeless world that SO needed and still SO needs one. It’s good news of hope and joy and of reconciliation and relationship with the God who created us and has never stopped loving us.
So, although we may have to change the way we celebrate this brilliant news...celebrate we must! God created a new star to tell far away outsiders – He sent a host of angels displaying his glory, brighter than any neon sign, to tell despised shepherds – and He sent those same marginalised men to tell everyone they met that God had acted in history to bring peace and salvation and they praised Him and gave Him glory...surely, we can’t do any less?

Yes, it’s been a grim  year.                                                                                                                         Yes, there is much to lament and grieve over for all of us...and much more so for many of us.  I don’t underestimate how hard this year has been. We weep, frequently, with those who weep.

But there is good news and hope...not in vaccines, although we thank God for them...but in Jesus, God in flesh, come to seek and to save...God who knows and understands our deepest need and heartfelt longings has done everything required to put us right with Him and to give us forgiveness and eternal life and His holy Spirit.
So, hang tinsel on everything, string lights and streamers and blare out carols and find any way you can to celebrate and tell others the glorious, good news.

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GOD
God so loved
God so loved you 
God so loved you and me
God so loved you and me that He gave
God so loved you and me that He gave His Only Son
God so loved you and me that He gave His Only Son, Jesus,
God so loved you and me that He gave His Only Son, Jesus, to be our Saviour
GOD LOVES YOU 
GOD LOVES ME
GOD LOVES US
Alleluia or Hurrah or Yippee!

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