InTouch December

Dear friends,

We have to accept that none of us knows the day on which Jesus was born. We do not know the date or the time. According to tradition, we follow the early Christian Church in choosing 25th December as the day we focus on remembering His birth. This day was selected because it coincided with all the pagan festivals and the early Christians wished to divert attention from those festivals and direct it instead to celebrating the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Personally, I am glad that Christmas is celebrated in December. It is the darkest month of the year, when the days are short and the nights are long. The twinkling lights that illuminate shopping centers and homes attempt to defy this darkness. Remember that when Christ came into the world, Israel was suffering from real spiritual darkness. The religious leaders of the day were corrupt. The king was corrupt and the people had no voice. But the light came when Jesus was born. He came to bring light into this dark world. He came to destroy the forces of evil that enslave us in sin. In Jesus, light overcomes darkness.

And that is why Christians celebrate His coming at Christmas time. We rejoice that God became man to deliver us from darkness. He died in the place of sinners to bring us back to God. Now Jesus says to all who will listen, "I am the Light of the World. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (John 8:12). It is just as we sing it in the words of the carol:

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, Love's pure light
radiant beams from Thy holy face
with the dawn of redeeming grace.
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

I trust and hope you will all have a good Christmas
Yours, in Christ
Pastor Tim