--- Welcome ---
--- Introduction ---
--- Prayer ---
--- Once In Royal David’s City ---
Samantha grew up with Christmas. She knew the story. She heard it every year, and in those days it was everywhere: nativity scenes in shop windows and carols on the radio and, of course, heaps of Christmas cards with stables and shepherds and wise men. She knew how all that worked.
But you know how it is: it was the only day in the year that her parents went to church and the rest of the year they were anything but… well whatever Christians were meant to be. It seemed the whole Christmas thing was just a sham – a show of respectability.
Then she left home, got work, got into a relationship, had kids. There was little time for religion. Little need too. I mean what good did it do? Were those who went to church any different from those who didn’t? Not that she could see.
She did kind-of miss it. There was something about the carols and the late-night Christmas Eve service and even the Christmas Day service. And, she wondered if her kids were missing something.
Nah, it was only her being sentimental. It would mean nothing to the children. It was old fashioned, traditional, not really their thing – not in any way their thing.
--- Silent Night ---
That was another thing. A virgin had a baby. Yeah, right! Angels, a travelling star. It was very beautiful, she had to admit that, but it was only a fairy-tale. Maybe people back then believed things like that, but they were simpler times. They were simpler people. They didn’t understand things the way we do now.
Samantha had been a nurse. She lived in a scientific world far more sophisticated than ancient Israel. People back then made up all sorts of stories to explain things they didn’t understand. Sure, you could have miraculous births and visiting wise men and fairy-tale angels if it made you feel better.
What she couldn’t understand was why this particular fairy-tale had lasted so long. Why were people still celebrating Christmas? Well, maybe they weren’t. How many people these days even knew the story? How many knew why we have this holiday? She probably knew the story better than most.
She assumed the whole thing survived purely because it was commercially expedient.
It was odd really. Everybody complained about the “silly season”; people spent more than they should and ate more than they should and drank more than they should, and yet they still year after year kept doing it. Why?
She had fallen into that trap herself – especially the drinking. It was that and the resultant fights and the stress after Christmas caused by having spent too much on things they didn’t need, that meant she was now on her own with the kids. It wasn’t only at Christmas, but Christmas accentuated it, and ultimately Paul could take it no longer.
But she was doing OK, and they were good kids.
---- Matthew 1:18-21 ---
The kids. Amy was home from uni. Daniel had finished school for the year. It seemed that Amy had a boyfriend. She was floating around in a dream and spent hours on the phone. Samantha smiled when she saw her. She remembered those days: the euphoria, the dreams…
She wanted to meet him, but she knew not to ask too many questions. Just wait. All would be revealed.
But waiting was excruciating. Who was this young man? Would he treat her little girl well? Would he respect her? Was he even “the one”? Was Amy making wise choices?
“Mum?”
“Yes, Darling.”
“Can I ask you a question? Would you mind if I wasn’t here for Christmas? Tom wants me to go to Christchurch and have Christmas with his family.”
What? Samantha’s mind raced. Was she losing her precious daughter to this young man she had never met? How could he be so insensitive? Amy and Daniel were all Samantha had. How could he take Amy away at this most special time of the year?
“Oh, darling!”
“Mum, please! I haven’t seen him for nearly three weeks now.”
Again, Samantha was trying to figure out what was happening. Why was it important to her? Why had she thought of Christmas as the most special time of the year when she had convinced herself that it was meaningless and simply commercial? Would she have reacted the same way at any other time of the year?
--- O Holy Night ---
She didn’t really have a choice.
“Honey, we will miss you terribly, but I understand. Of course you can go.”
There would be an empty chair at their Christmas table that year. She hated the thought.
“Oh, thank you, Mum. You’re the best! Can I ask you another question?”
She braced herself.
“Mum, his family are Christians. Do you know what that means? They seem really nice. Tom wants me to go to church on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day. Can you imagine that? I’ve never been to church before, then twice within 12 hours. What will I have to do?”
--- Luke 2:1-7 ---
What did it mean? Samantha tried to pull together the bits and pieces of the Christmas story. What could she remember? She did her best to tell Amy about the first Christmas: Mary, Joseph, donkey. The baby in a stable. Shepherds, wise men, the drummer boy, reindeer.
But what did it mean that Tom’s family were Christians? She guessed it meant they still believed things like that and that they like traditions like going to church. Oh, and she thought it meant they hoped that they would go to heaven because they had been to church.
Amy wasn’t entirely satisfied. That didn’t seem quite like what Tom had explained or what she had seen in him.
“Thanks, Mum.”
--- Luke 2:8-20 ---
On Christmas Day, Samantha couldn’t help thinking about Amy… going to church with another family.
One thought nagged at her. What if that family was really happy? What if Christmas actually meant something to them? What if Amy was happy too going to church?
Daniel was still sleeping. Who knew what time he had got in that morning? She was unlikely to see him before lunchtime.
What if, after all these years, she went to church? There was something about it she still missed. There had been a flyer in the mail. Where was that now?
She was a bit embarrassed. She was sure some people would recognise her. She kept her head down, only half smiled at the usher and slid into the back row.
She knew most of the carols, although some were obviously newer. The Bible readings all sounded remarkably familiar. It was nostalgic. It was lovely, but so what? We don’t give other fairy-tales this sort of treatment. We don’t celebrate the three little pigs with this much palaver each year.
One verse stood out: an angel had said to Joseph, “You will call His name Jesus… because He will save his people from their sins”. He will save His people from their sins.
--- Hark! The herald angels sing ---
She grimaced at the sexist language, but… “Light and life to all He brings… born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth; born to give them second birth”. And there was that earlier line “God and sinners reconciled”.
As she looked around, she saw people who seemed to be truly grateful. They sang as if they loved Jesus, as if He had changed their lives.
It was scary. It felt like she was in danger of believing something she didn’t want to believe. She wanted what they had but not at the expense of becoming a Christian. That thought horrified her.
People left beaming. Her smile, she knew, was very lukewarm. It was difficult because people came to talk but she got out of there as fast as she could.
Amy rang after lunch.
“How was church, dear?”
“You know what? I loved it. I heard things I have never heard before. And the people were amazing. Why did you never tell us what Christmas means? The world would be such a better place if people followed Jesus.”
Samantha didn’t let on that she had also gone to church. She needed time to think.
--- Manger Throne ---
--- Prayer ---
God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him might not die but have everlasting life.
Last week I heard J. John say, “We can never truly celebrate Christmas until we can look up at God and tell Him we have received His Christmas gift”.
--- Joy to the world! ---
Notice: We would love you to stay for supper.
--- Benediction ---
1691