When it’s cold and dark
It’s that tine year again! The TV is full of Christmas adverts. Christmas trees are being wedged into car boots or dragged out from the loft. Dad’s got that awful jumper on again. The supermarkets are full of goodies that you never knew you needed and some poor woman ( It still usually is) is cooking lunch for 20. Then there js that lovely old gentleman in the red coat with the furry beard. Remarkable guy when you think think about it. He delivers all these goodies in one night and is simultaneously appearing at hundreds of stores across the country. I confess to being a bit of a sentimentalist and one of my favourite Christmas movies is “Miracle on 34 Street”. In it Richard Attenborough plays the real Santa who comes to persuade a cynical mother and daughter that Santa is real. He also does a little miracle for the daughter as well.
There is just one problem with Father Christmas. He only turns up once a year. He’s not around when the bills come In January. Or when you fall sick in May. Or when you lose your job in June. Or when you sit at a dying loved one’s bed in September. No, you can only call on hm at Christmas.
By contrast consider the other central character in the Christmas story (or at least he’s meant to be). The Lord Jesus. He made the remarkable statement, “Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world”. In other words he really does want to be with you at the worst moments of your life. He wants to bring you comfort and hope and to be at your side at all times. The message of Christmas is of a Jesus who comes Into our lives to offer hope and light. A Jesus who enters into our suffering as well. A Jesus who in the end himself suffered and died on a cross to bring us new life through a new relationship with God. This Christmas could be the start of a new life. A new life with Jesus who unlike Santa is there all year round.