SPEAKER_08

The Speak Life Podcast, sharing Jesus in everyday life.

SPEAKER_07

Well, hello everyone, and welcome to this week's live cast. It's good to have you back. I was gonna say with us, not really with us, with me. If you've been following the Speak Life Facebook page, you'll have seen that Glenn is off speaking at the moment at University Carol Services. And you might have seen the video that was posted last night of his talk from Sunday night that he gave at Southampton University. And last night he was actually up in Durham speaking there at their week. Well not their week, their Carol service. And today I believe he's gonna be speaking at Warwick University. So thank you for those who've been praying for him. Do continue to pray for him. These University Carol Services is a great opportunity where you know hundreds of students are going to come through the doors who may never step into church or Christian Union or anything like that. So it is a great opportunity. Now speaking of great opportunities, um we thought today, I keep saying we, as the royal we, we're all in this together. Um I thought what we'd do is we would have a look at some Christmas videos. Um Christmas is a great opportunity in churches. Now, some of you guys are gonna work in churches, some of you um are just gonna be members of churches, you might be youth workers and and have different roles you might be serving. Um when I was a youth worker and I was working in church, every Christmas would roll round and there'd be this kind of this uh moment where I think, well, you know, I've got some Christmas assemblies at the secondary school, or we've got an informal camera service as well as traditional. And um what are we gonna do? You know, it'd be great to have a resource, a video we could use. Um so I thought what we I'd do is we'd I'd chat a little bit about some of the resources we've got as well as a couple of other videos that I've used over the years that I thought maybe might be useful for you. Um and you can use them in whatever context, uh your youth group or in a service if you think that might work for you. Um and if it's helpful, it's helpful. If it's not, you don't need to worry about it. You can use some other bits. So hopefully you've already seen um our video that's out this year, our Christmas video, um, on Earth as in heaven, that remembers the kind of 50th anniversary of the first ever Earth rise, where Earth was seen to kind of rise for the first time from space. And we think about this idea of how uh, you know, man going to the moon is an amazing thing, but God coming to the earth is an even more amazing thing. Um, so we're gonna have a little clip from that, and uh then we'll come back in a moment.

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It's one small step for man, one giant leap for many.

SPEAKER_10

It's one of history's most famous lines, but it wasn't what he'd planned to say. Whether the sound cut out or he forgot, Armstrong was meant to say that's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. But one small step for man has a deeper resonance to it. As Armstrong walked on the moon, we all did. He was our representative. That was the message of the plaque they left on the moon's surface.

SPEAKER_01

For those who haven't uh read the plaque, uh, will read the plaque that's on the front planning gear of Islam. Two men from the planet Earth, first step foot upon the moon, July 1969, 8 peace. It came in peace for all mankind.

SPEAKER_06

I can't help thinking of that on Christmas. The angel said peace, goodwill to all men. Fifty years ago, men went up in space uh in peace. Two thousand years ago, God came down to earth in peace. That's Christmas.

SPEAKER_07

So that could be a really good one to use uh this year. Hopefully you might be able to find use for it. And and I've often used a lot of these kind of videos as a stepping stone into a into a preach um rather than a standalone thing. Now that's a third there's a 13-minute version of that, um, but you can download it in two halves, which are about six minutes each, and it's a nice break in it. Um so it will work really well in a caval service to have a chunk at one point and a and a chunk at another point later. Um so it's probably a little bit too long for use in an assembly or something like that. Um, but maybe you could use the 90-second trailer um in an assembly if you were doing that, and then you could use it to talk a bit more about some of the things that come up in the video. Um, so that's a really good one. Now, some of you guys um might remember Meet the Nativity from last year. Actually, there'll be quite a lot of you who will have joined us here on Facebook through Meet the Nativity. We kind of jumped up quite a lot through that period. Um so you might remember that, you might not remember some of our previous videos, so we'll look at them in a moment. Uh, Meet the Nativity, it is available as a as a supercut of kind of 20 minutes long. Um, but actually, I think that the best way to use it is probably in the four uh episodes that it was released as where it looks at one character each week. Um if you've not seen any of it, let's have a quick look at that now.

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I know how it sounds, I do, but just go inside. In there? Yeah, hi. Please, just trust me.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Hi. Sorry, I think I'm in the wrong How is it?

unknown

Hi.

SPEAKER_04

How's your Christmas going? It's okay.

SPEAKER_10

Hello.

SPEAKER_04

Actually, I got a present I wasn't quite expecting.

SPEAKER_13

Presents are like that.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, no, but this one really wasn't what I was expecting. We make our plans. But in the end life is life is worth what a given. That sounds terrifying.

SPEAKER_07

So um that was an ep uh a clip from the second episode there, which focuses on Claire. There are kind of four characters that we meet through through Meet of this episode. We've got Will, uh, we've got Claire, uh, Ruth, and Ken. Um, and um we've kind of got, you know, this uh Will's this kind of fish out of water character going home with his girlfriend to meet her parents the first time at Christmas, and he's desperate to fit in. And then there's Claire, who's this kind of very capable young uh woman, and her plans kind of for life are suddenly thrown into disarray when she discovers she's pregnant. And then we've got Ruth, um, who for whom life is is seems to be tough, and Christmas in particular is hard, although we never quite know why. Um and then we've got Ken, who's the kind of this, you know, deeply unimpressed figure through a lot of it's uh kind of quite cold, uh closed book. Um but we do get to cut through his kind of outer shell as the story goes on. Um and I used this last year in an informal Carol service that we we do. Uh it was kind of an alternative nine lessons, so we had we did have scripture, obviously. Uh but actually through the service we had an episode and a couple of songs, an episode, you know, a song, episode, that kind of thing. Um and then I got up and spoke on it um and preached on it. And if you if you want ideas for how you could use it to preach, um if you go to the the YouTube, our YouTube channel, Speak Life UK, and find the Meet and Intimity playlist, not only will you find the episodes, you'll also find Glenn's little explainer videos for each. So that'll give you some ideas of how you might speak about each person. And I think the way I kind of structured my talk was that I I spoke a bit about each person, what they were like and who they were, um, and you know, I said, you know, and I'm sure we can identify, you know, maybe we some people I could identify with one person, others could identify with more than one or bits of everybody. And then I just kind of spoke about how how they each met with Jesus and the difference that made for them. And so there's some really good ways in there, and actually um had lots of positive responses afterwards um from people. Uh, you know, Christians are saying they'd come with friends and the videos that spoken to their friends, um they're very subtle the videos, they do, they probably do need explaining. Um, it's not an in-your-face kind of gospel presentation in in the way perhaps some people would have liked um or might have been expecting, but actually I think it's it's subtlety that really works. So do have a look at Meet the Nativity and think about using that uh this Christmas time. Uh let me see, what was the next one we had come up then? So uh we've had Meet the Nativity and I've lost where I am the beauty of being live. Uh yeah, so I think working backwards here, so the previous year to that, we had uh the video uh Love Came Down, and you might have seen some of these before. Um clips from this. I think we've used them in in our discussions in a couple of live casts before. If you've not seen it, let's have a look at uh a clip from Love Came Down, it's a brilliant little clip.

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So gather's aware that we baby boy, all people are welcome. Low heaven's guy, a close top case of left. The little pieces of baby.

SPEAKER_07

It's actually narrated by um uh a lady who who I know her family, uh like her parents and her brothers and sisters and nephews and nieces actually go to my church, and you know, their kids, kind of nephews and nieces from the youth group and stuff, and I know the parents quite well and know them all quite well. Um so Debbie who narrates that um you know has Down syndrome herself and just you know wonderfully done. And I and and there's so many you know, such such a great video to be able to use at Christmas time. You know, you m you could preach off it or you could just show it as part of a carol service. I know that I think we we have something where I am we have a a school near to us, uh special needs school, and they have their carol service in our church every year. Um and it's always I mean without a doubt my favourite carol service every year it was that I used to go to. Uh because it was such so full of energy and life. Um and it I mean it was complete chaos and mayhem, but it was beautiful and absolutely wonderful, lots of fun. Um and I used this video, I'm pretty sure I used this video maybe maybe the year before last. Well, it must be yeah, I wasn't there last year, so it must have been in my final year when that video was out. And um and you know, here all these these families here uh with children, and some of those children have Down syndromes, some of them have you know varying disabilities from you know very severe things uh through to kind of less severe, but all with these kind of experiences, and this I guess that video just speaks so beautifully into their lives and their experience. Um but also you know, I think it works with you know for people who've who've not got people in their family with disabilities or haven't um you know kind of had experience of that. I think it works as a standalone piece as well. So uh really lovely piece of video that you can use there. Now the next one, which I think is a good one for you, another good resource, is Four Kinds of Christmas, which I think is the previous year again from Speak Life. Um and well, let's have a quick look at that now. Dear me. And you can see what's uh is going on there.

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Every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a steak of holly through his heart.

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I like the darkness. At least it's cheap. I keep adjusted to the gloom, the creeping doom that soon consumes the earth in tombs. I hum its tune, assume its tone, and make my home right here. In the only world we know, this world of woe. Let others throw their festive flames. I think I'll keep my five gold rings.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, yeah, four cooling birds, uh, three French hens, two turtle doves. She loves the doves. Yes, drop it on the card above. No, never fear, my dear, I'll pay it all. Next year. For now we'll drink the Christmas cheer and fit the holes with tinsel blings. Forget what our tomorrow's brings. We'll raise a glass of festive cherry, eat and drink and be quite everyone.

SPEAKER_12

No drop, rainbows, furry miss, unicorns and mealing. What is this?

SPEAKER_02

I think I think it's lower stuff, I know. Although, heck no. Father Christmas, mind your own business. The kids might believe, but they are naive. I know for certain. I see through the curtain. But when you strip it all bare, what exactly is there?

SPEAKER_07

So there's four kinds of Christmas, uh, a brief clip of it, at least. And uh it's a kind of one-shot video um that takes you through these different, you know, the four different types of Christmas you could be. Um are you, let me think, is it are are you the shopper, are you Santa, are you Scrooge, or are you the stable? And actually you can still, even now, even though this is a few years old, maybe 2015, perhaps you can still go to fourkindsofchristmas.com where there is the test you can take to find out, you answer the questions, are you, you know, what kind of Christmas are you? Shopper, Santa, Scrooge, stable. Um, and again, just a really good way into um uh a Christmas talk. Um short, works in an assembly, um, and you've got these four areas you can speak about. Um and there is the book, there is the four kinds of Christmas book. I'm not sure if you can still pack that up off the website, get the book, it says here. Let's hope that you can. Um we've definitely we can probably get you uh holds and copies. Yes, you can get hold of copies. Yeah, absolutely. Ten of those can grab you some copies there. Um so do get hold of them, and the price goes down uh per copy. So actually, if you get over a hundred, uh it's only a pound for each copy. It's a great kind of thing you can give out to people for free at your services for them to take away. So they can go to the you know, point them to the website and they can actually read a bit there um and see the video again. But why not get the book and get it into their hands? Um, and actually that's gonna be a really good one. So another one I used uh another year, I think I used this in the school assembly, is again another previous speak life one, which is uh Christmas in Dark Places, which is uh a really good one. So let's have a clip from that.

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Summer's gone now. You've been around, you've felt the fall of life run around. We've got up in the world in the light time.

SPEAKER_07

So uh that was Christmas in Dark Places, you can download that one as well. And I used this in a school assembly, I think, back in 2014. Um, so it's a good run for that. And and I think what I said was um, you know, you're expecting the classic Christian assembly, aren't you? You know, you're saying to these teenagers who you're trying to warm up a bit on a Monday morning or whatever it is, you're expecting me to come in and say, you know, um Christmas is really about um uh you know the Christmas story and and all that, and actually put away your mint pies and all those things. Um and actually what I kind of said that you know what, there there are lots of people for whom Christmas won't be a big party. Um it won't be fun, you know, and you know uh Geldorf can say all he likes, you know, it's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid. But for a lot of people there it is a time to be afraid, you know, that and talks on the video about how many people are still in slavery, how many people are still on the streets, um, you know, children and and homeless. Um and for people it will be a a very uh difficult time, you know, will they be able to pay their bills? Um there'll be people who are sick, people who've lost people for whom it's a very hard time. Um those for whom, you know, they're wondering how how drunk is dad gonna get after this Christmas. And so Christmas is a dark time. It's not e even if you're not a Christian, it may not be that Christmas is just one big party for you. Um it can be very hard. And actually, here is a video that speaks about light shining in the darkness, you know, the the the those passages from Isaiah. Um what a great way to speak into Christmas. And and you know, maybe you've got a service which I I think you could easily use that perhaps in your traditional uh a traditional kind of carol service. Um the tone of it would fit very well. Um whereas you know, maybe a slightly more bouncy one wouldn't quite work as well. Um but I think that would, and and I think it speaks to a lot of people, because even even if you're in a very kind of nice middle class area as I am, of course there's a lot of stuff beneath the surface that people don't show and you don't really know whether Christmas really what Christmas is like for them. And so the idea of saying, look, Christmas can be hard, can't it? Um but there's a light in the darkness. I think there's there's something good in there that you can um you can speak of and we can use to speak very clearly of Jesus. Um and so then that's dark places, and the other one I've used uh is uh basically I just for years I just used Glenn's material every end of November, I'll be sitting there waiting for this video to come out, going, Give me something I can use um in my in my work, please. I need something. Um so this one's anti-santi ranty. I think this was the very first one he did, the very first Christmas one. So you have a look at this.

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They say there's a big man who lives far away. Supposedly jolly, but it's hard to say. I've never seen him and neither of you. But the children believe, and I suppose that'll do. He's known as a loner with many a quirk. No time for a chat, he's embroiled in his work. He keeps to himself for most of the year. I reckon we're grateful he doesn't appear. We send him requests for particular need, but we never hear back, who knows if he heeds. We try to be good, give his arm a twist, to merit our place on his blessed little list. And maybe one day, if we do what we should, he'll give us our things just so long as we're good. See, I've had it to hear. I'm calling his bluff. He's a weird, moralistic dispenser of stuff. Granted, this rant is a strange one to pick, but listen, I'm not really after St. Nick. Strange as he is, and Santa is odd.

SPEAKER_07

In fact, I'm attacking most folks you have got. So that's anti-santi ranty. You've maybe seen kind of things like that before with variations on on the idea. Um and um yeah, I use this one in a school assembly. a number of years ago as well, um, and kind of used it as as the opening the the opening video and actually said, you know, is that what is that what uh God is like? Is is uh is God just like Alexander, is Jesus just Alexander? And I said, I think the Christmas story kind of kind of dismantles that, you know, it shows us something else. And it uses it used Philippians 2 to speak about, you know, he he made himself a servant and how actually we see at Christmas the the God who steps down into our depths, um, into our story, who pours himself out uh for us and joins us. And a very different thing to to the image of this Santa who's just kind of keeping a a record of of right and wrong and uh things like that. And I think you know the image used was uh of you know you're at home and there's a knock on the door and it's the queen and she says you know don't get up and she comes in and starts cleaning up the house for you. You know, this image of someone who's on high who comes down. But actually Jesus comes from far higher than that and uh stoops right down. So um that might be a kind of way into um speaking again at Christmas. Again it's a short video so it works for an assembly or something like that. Now one so those are kind of all the speak life ones there's a couple I just want to touch upon um somewhat less seriously than others. This one um this one I think is by if you go to Vimeo you can or Vimeo don't know you can find it on there by searching Trinity Cheltenham I I think I searched Christmas Trinity and it popped up and it's just called Christmas episode one Christmas episode two and it's just a little hilarious retelling of the Christmas story which eventually in its second part kind of goes hold on a second this isn't right what's going on here and you get a nice bit of uh something to end on and again something you can speak on.

SPEAKER_11

Let's have a look at the clip I think these are uh just a really well done uh little animation um and telling the story so there was this girl named Mary who lived in a sleepy little town called Nazareth in a bit of Israel called Galilee where nothing that exciting had happened for quite a long while and one day Mary was quietly getting on with her day when suddenly BAM an angel from the Lord appeared to her and was like hell foul that I'm highly favoured. The Lord is with me to among women and Mary who was completely freaking out by this point was all like I'm sorry I literally have no idea what you're saying.

SPEAKER_09

What kind of greeting is that?

SPEAKER_11

Oh I'm sorry I'm just like trying to lend a central occasion for these sorts of things. What I was trying to say was good morning your beautiful God's beauty beautiful inside and out be with you well that's really nice of you.

SPEAKER_09

You're not so bad yourself but I don't understand.

SPEAKER_11

No it's okay stop freaking out your father's favorite God we've got to continue a son to call him Jesus it's going to be amazing you'll be called the stun of the most part I thought he said he'd be called Jesus yes it's a next name we'll have loads of those anyways the Lord God will give him the phone of his father David and he will wait forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and his kingdom will never end.

SPEAKER_09

But how will this happen?

SPEAKER_11

I'm still I'm still that's not a problem at all the Holy Spirit will come to you and the power of the Most High will overstand you the Holy one to be born will be God the Son of God okay okay stop freaking out Mary it's okay calm down you're going to give birth to the Son of God it's fine. It's not been an average Monday morning so far granted but stop freaking out Mary Okay I'm the Lord's servant may it happen just as you have said so Mary becoming pregnant was kind of awkward because she was already engaged to this really great guy called Joseph who was the carpenter Hi Joseph Hey babe how are you doing? Look at this thing I carpented today it's a computer desk. I've no idea what it's for yet or even what a computer is but I think it's just great.

SPEAKER_09

Joseph there's something I need to tell you what is it babe?

SPEAKER_11

I'm I'm pregnant you again look I thought I told you no drumming in my shop sorry Joseph Mary who's the father um it's sort of a long story.

SPEAKER_07

So that was Christmas part of Christmas episode one you can you can get the the whole thing um we'll put some links somewhere for you to find um well actually so there there you go if you want the links for all these videos get over to speaklife.org.uk forward slash sign up um and sign up for our email list because you'll get this every Friday you'll get whate whatever resources we've talked about or used in the week we'll send them to you on a Friday um morning so you don't miss anything they get collected together. So get over and sign up. If you're on Facebook page there is a sign up button which will take you to the email sign up so miss nothing. It also gives you prayer points for things you're gonna be praying about for us that are coming up. But that was Christmas part of Christmas episode one. And as you can see it's it's it's a complete laugh. It's that one's about I think they're about six minutes long each or or six and four I think the two parts so too long for an assembly probably but again could be used in the service and that's why I first saw someone else use them and they went down really really well. Obviously lots of fun I mean the second part starts off you know kind of like previously on Christmas and you've got you know bits of the Death Star exploding and stuff. So it's it's a complete send up in many ways but then it kind of comes good if you're sitting there going what's happening where's this going? There are loads of other great Christmas videos out there. I think I've got a link I was sent of a w which has got kind of 28 or so other videos. So we'll try and pop that down in the comments and for you to find if you're picking this up on the podcast um or later. Hopefully those will be useful to you. Hopefully you'll be able to find those and use them and uh there'll be right for you there'll be at least one in there that's right for your context or one out of that other list, which would be good. And I just want to encourage you to use stuff like this um over the Christmas period. You know hopefully it makes your life easier maybe as a minister or someone in church because it is difficult year on year to kind of think how do I make this fresh the story is always relevant but there's a sense in which people tend to think well I've heard this before you go well how do we how do we engage them? And these things can be really helpful in doing that I think. And I don't know about you but I know in my church you know we'll have a Christingall service or three Christing services on Christmas Eve. And even and on that day alone we'll see over a thousand people come through the doors um you know some a church family but there are lots of outsiders um and then we've got our traditional car services and lots of other services actually going on um and it's such an amazing opportunity and we don't want to miss this opportunity at Christmas time. Um so you know we've still got a few weeks let's be on the ball with it. And you know maybe you've only got one carel service and that's fine that's great. But I imagine you get lots of outsiders turn up or Christmas day maybe you do or whatever midnight Christmas you know kind of service don't miss the opportunities. Great. Hopefully next week we'll be back to normal normal service show resume and Glenn will be back. I'm sure we'll get a bit of feedback on how his time up in Southampton Adorman Warwick is gone. Like I say he's in Warwick tonight so please pray for him. And we'll see you next week. Thanks very much for uh joining us. Bye well that was the audio from our live cast this week but do stay tuned now for Glenn's talk based on John chapter one that he gave at the University of Southampton's Christian Union Carol service well Christmas so uh I'm imagining that my experience of Christmas growing up was a little bit different to yours, perhaps.

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I remember waking up very early on Christmas morning not just because I was so excited about the presents, but because the sunshine is just blazing through the curtains isn't it because uh Christmas is obviously one of the longest days in the year isn't it in Australia right and I remember as a kid going down to the kitchen to have a traditional Christmas breakfast. We would have tropical fruit you know slice of pineapple some mango watermelon that kind of thing and then our family would go to church on Christmas morning so I'd make sure that I was wearing my very best board shorts and uh ironed a surfer t-shirt because it's a special occasion. And then our household we we were so very righteous we would not open presents until we had been to church because that's that's the level of emotional intelligence that we had. That kind of delayed gratification is why I am the man that I am today. I don't know about you guys but but we we would hold off I don't know at one of the services today I met somebody who said that they held off they they do hold off every year until the Queen's speech at 3 p.m how do you do that? But I'm sure it sets you up in life if you can hold off opening presents until 3 p.m I'm sure I'm sure that would make you an upstanding member of society. Well we would open our presents after church and then we'd have lunch we'd have I don't know some nice roast beef lamb pork anything but turkey obviously because the only thing that would make you eat turkey on Christmas day is is that you are forced into this by centuries of peculiar tradition. I mean why anyone eats turkey is is completely beyond me. It really is it's not that turkey is disgusting. Turkey is not disgusting it's just inedible right it's it's just it's the food equivalent of a dehumidifier just sucking the moisture out of every cell in your body. Do you find this the same thing No I'm I'm I'm getting a lot of resistance to my hatred of turkey here. Really? Look I consult your feelings I think you know that what I'm saying is the truth okay and I think the reason why you know what I'm saying is the truth is you never have turkey on any other day of the year and yet you inflict it on yourself on this day in which you must, in order to make the turkey edible, you must have both gravy and cranberry sauce and stuffing and bread sauce. What is bread sauce? Bread sauce is lubricant just to wash down this Death Valley made flesh. Anyway, I should probably get on with the rest of the talk but if you want to talk to me more about turkey I'd I'd be up for it tonight. But we would have something nice for Christmas lunch some kind of beef or chicken or seafood barbecue something like that and uh we would pull our crackers and wear our paper hats, we'd tell our stupid jokes, we'd eat till we burst, and then burst we would outside to swim and then play some backyard cricket and then we round off the whole day with a traditional Australian carol jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day. Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is butte. Oh what fun it is to ride in a clapped out rusty ute. That was Christmas for me. And as I recount my Christmas I'm not getting a lot of positive feedback here. I'm getting a lot of resistance I'm getting a lot of evils I'm getting a lot of uh folded arms and you're all thinking to yourself that's not how Christmas goes stop ruining it. Isn't that what you're thinking? You're thinking a summer Christmas is not how it's meant to be isn't that what you're thinking and actually after spending half of my Christmases in Australia and half my Christmases in the UK I think I agree with you. I think Christmas is actually a winter celebration. I think Christmas is meant to happen in the bleak midwinter as we've just sung uh we didn't have that hymn that carol back in Australia so much you can understand why but I think Christmas is meant to happen in dark places. And if you've listened into Christmas readings at these sorts of carol services before you'll know that all the Christmas readings are actually about darkness. You can't have a Christmas reading without there being something about darkness. So Isaiah chapter 9 the prophet from 700 years before the first Christmas he actually speaks of the people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those walking through the valley of the shadow of death a light has come. And the light is the wonderful child this this gift that God has given at Christmas. So the light shines but the context for the light shining is not us in our sunny circumstances. Christmas is not a celebration of our sunny circumstances. Christmas is the celebration that light has dawned on us in the midst of a very dark and dreary time. And maybe that's a really helpful thing to hear at Christmas because I think there can be a lot of pressure on people to feel as though Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year when actually you might have just had a really cruddy 2018. And the idea that you're meant to celebrate now just feels really galling to you. I think you need to know that Christmas is meant to happen in dark places. Christmas can handle the dark places that you've had this year. I mean you you look out to the world around us and you see the darkness in Yemen and Sudan and you you see a fractured society you see Brexit omni-shambles you you see climate change catastrophes you you see a broken world that's out there but maybe closer to home you see darkness as well maybe this year you you've lost a loved one you know this year 5000 Britons have died which means around the Christmas table this year there are five hundred thousand empty chairs and you will feel that loss very keenly at Christmas and if you've had a terrible 2018 then then Christmas doesn't seem to help it only seems to hurt. And maybe it hurts because we've got this expectation that Christmas needs to be dazzling and bright. But actually Christmas is for dark places. That's what verse five of our passage said we're looking at this most famous passage from the Bible John chapter one it's the ultimate Christmas passage where John gives us this introduction to Jesus and in verse five it says the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. That's what this passage is all about. It's all about Christmas bringing you a light that can cope with your darkness that can give you hope for your darkness and maybe even transform your darkness. John chapter 1 gives you hope and I want to give you hope tonight I want to give you the hope that Christmas brings because all of us have to manage the darkness and I wonder how you do it. I'm gonna point to four different strategies for coping with darkness in this world and they kind of map onto four kinds of Christmas that I think you can have you can be a Scrooge you can be a shopper you can be a Santa or you can be the stable. Those are the four kinds of Christmas and they're really four approaches to the valley of the shadow of death four approaches to darkness in this world. Scrooge says yeah life is dark get accustomed to it right the shopper says yeah the world is dark but let's celebrate while we can before the light is extinguished Santa says darkness what darkness everything's light surely and the stable is the original Christmas message where the light comes into the darkness and helps us out. But let's go through those four kinds of Christmas and Scrooge is Christmas number one. I don't know if you've read a Christmas carol by Charles Dickens. Now's the time to dust it off and read it in December here's what Scrooge says in a Christmas carol. He says every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart Merry Christmas to you too, Ebenezer, right? But this is one approach to the darkness you look out at a dark world and you become darker yourself. It's actually very tempting. It's actually something that you and I are tempted to do every day. You endure cold, icy, chilly circumstances and you become colder and icier and chillier you look out at a bitter world and you become bitterer that's what Dickens wrote about Scrooge he said external heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge no warmth could warm him no wintry weather could chill him no wind that blew was bitterer than he no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose no pelting rain was less open to entreaty that is Scrooge the world is dark and so he becomes darker. Is that the approach that you take to life it's actually really tempting to let the darkness get in to let the darkness change you. Now there's something right about Scrooge Scrooge gets it right that this world is a dark place. It really is full of darkness and death and disconnection this world really is a dark place. He gets that right but the thing he gets wrong is that you and I were built for joy we were not built for bitterness. We were not built for darkness we're actually built to rejoice and that's something that the shopper gets right the shopper is our second kind of Christmas. The shopper would say to Scrooge Ah Scrooge yes the weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful so if you've no place to go let it snow let it snow let it snow and the shopper kind of person will buy the garish Christmas jumper and the Christmas socks that play carols and you know the bandana with the mistletoe on it so that they can you know snog whoever they like. They're that kind of person they they max out their their credit cards and they don't care what the bill will be in January. They're just kind of party animals. The shopper basically says eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. And there's something really right about the shopper. Here's what the shopper gets right we were built for joy. You and I were built for feasting joy. That's how John's gospel begins this this chapter that we're looking at to introduce Christmas to us from verse one here's how John introduces the world to us and it is shot through with joy. Verse 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God here's here's what John is doing. He's pressing rewind on the history of the cosmos. He's going back before there are people back before there are planets back before there are protons and he's asking the question what was there? What do you think? What do you think was there in the beginning before the world began? What do you think was there? If you just ask me that question cold I'm quite likely just to say I don't know before the universe I guess like the universe is everything right that's why I guess nothing right I guess before the world began there was there was nothing right that's kind of the story that we hear isn't it there was nothing and then bang there was everything. That's quite the story isn't it nothing? Bang everything for no reason that's interesting isn't it I mean Christmas tells us the story the the miracle of the virgin birth this would be the miracle of the virgin birth of the cosmos and without a virgin it's the ultimate magic trick isn't it you know nothing up the sleeve no sleeve even no magician just pure magic out of nowhere nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing everything and for no reason that's interesting isn't it I think that is the virgin birth of the cosmos. And I think it is orders of magnitude more improbable than anything that Christianity has ever dared to believe. But it's a story I guess it's a story. But John gives us a different story. His story is in the beginning there wasn't nothing in the beginning there was the word somebody called the word it's it's given a capital W in John's gospel and the word was with another person called God he's later called the Father and he was with God in the beginning. So according to the Bible there's this Father who always has his son who is also called the word and John goes on to describe another person called the Holy Spirit the Bible says that in the beginning there was not nothing and there was not just chaos and there was not just power in the beginning there was love. In the beginning there was a family of joy. In the beginning there was a father loving his son Jesus in the joy of the Holy Spirit and really the best of Christmas is a pale imitation of ultimate reality. You see what do we have at Christmas? What we have at Christmas is is family together in bonds of face-to-face love and what we have at Christmas is is something of self-giving and sacrifice isn't there you know you you see that present and it's it's too expensive but you you've got to get it because it's just so your sister and so you've got to spend far too much money on this present and you give it to her and she's over the moon and and it's this self-giving love that is received and then reciprocated and there's the joy of the give and take of the back and forth of love and joy and peace and the Bible says that's where we've come from. You know why Christmas at its best resonates with us so much? Because actually it's in tune with the hum of the cosmos that before and beneath and beyond this world there is a family of love of self giving joy. That's where we've come from right in the beginning there was this family of light and life and love and there's this person called the Word. We know him as Jesus or the Son of God and through him all things Were made, says verse 3. Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. Actually, according to the Bible, we've come from the light. We haven't come from the darkness. We've actually come from the light and we are intended for the light. We've come from love and we are intended for love. It's the most beautiful picture of reality you'll ever encounter. That we have not come from an equation or an explosion or an existential truth, or at least that's not the ultimate reality of where we have come from. We've come from a family of light and life and love, and you are invited. That's the true story. The true story of the world is better than anything you can ever imagine. We've come from love, and we're destined to share in that love. And that's why it's good to be a shopper, right? That's why it's good to celebrate. That's Christmas. That's why it's good to spend too much on a present for your sister. That's why it's great to rejoice in family, because then you are tapping into something that goes very deep. Something that is very old. You're tapping into the heart of God when you do that. So the shopper gets something right. We were built for joy, but the shopper also gets something very wrong. You see, the shopper in general doesn't share this view of the world. In general, the shopper tends to view the world as though we have just come from nothingness and we're headed towards extinction. And so we better make hay while the sun shines. We better try to get all the experiences we can now, because we'll be tumbling into the grave soon. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. You know, and I just want to say if that's your philosophy, you're not pursuing joy enough. Because that worldview, that's that's that is not fuel for joy. That worldview will undercut your joy if you start thinking about things for any length of time. You see, if your worldview is that we've come from nothing and we're headed nowhere, then we are just biological survival machines clinging to an insignificant rock, hurtling through a meaningless universe towards eternal extinction. And I don't care how good your brandy butter is at that stage. That's not good enough, right? That's not good enough. If you want to rejoice, I want to call you home to this picture of the world, the picture where we've come from joy, and where we are intended for joy. And so as I call you away from being a shopper, maybe you think I'm trying to nudge you into being a Santa. That's the third kind of Christmas. We've had Scrooge, we've had Shopper. The third kind of Christmas is Santa. And let me describe who Santa is. It's not that you happen to believe in a big fat man at the at the North Pole. The Santa view of the world is that there might be some kind of God, right? There might be some kind of light out there. But he's very far away. He's very distant. He's a total irrelevance to most of your life. He's watching and waiting you to spot your mistake. He's a bit of a moralist, but he's largely a harmless figure who is far away. That's most people's view of Santa. It's most people's view of God, too, isn't it? And as I start talking to you about light and life and love, and as I start trying to infuse you about the fact that we might have come from a God of love, maybe you're starting to think, ah, Glenn, you're just doing the Santa thing. Because surely God is just like Santa for grown-ups, isn't it? I mean, I go around the country talking to people about God, and so often people say to me, Glenn, don't waste your breath. I don't believe in God. And I've always got a question back. I say, well, which God don't you believe in? And they say, well, you know, just God, just the big guy, I just don't believe in that. And I press them, I say, describe to me the God in whom you don't believe. And you know who they end up describing? Some distant individual who lives far away, who is irrelevant to the vast majority of our lives, who is watching and waiting to spot your mistake, right? He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake, right? That's most people's view of God. And so when I say, which God don't you believe in, you know who they end up describing? They end up describing Santa! And I'm like, I don't believe in Santa. Can I tell you about the real God? Can I tell you about the God who Jesus reveals? Because he is so different from that distant individual who might give you things if you're good. That's not who Christians believe God to be. The God of the stable is a very different kind of God. That's the fourth kind of Christmas. Not Scrooge, not Shopper, not Santa, but the stable. Here's a very different kind of God. Can we have verse 14 up on the screen? Verse 14. Here is the stable. The word who we thought about earlier, the son of the Father, in on that family of light and life and love, he became flesh and made his dwelling among us, right? Santa doesn't do that, okay? Santa gives you things if you've been good and then sods off, right? And you don't want Santa, you just want his stuff, right? He is a very different kind of God, okay? He is the kind of God who shows up in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death to join you, to be with you, to be one with you. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. This is different, right? This is the son from that ultimate family who becomes our brother in our dysfunctional family. And it's it's put really starkly, isn't it? The word became flesh, right? Think about that word flesh. Okay. It's the flesh that needed to be smacked to elicit his precious first breath. It's his flesh that would get nappy rash. It was his flesh that would be burnt in the Mediterranean sun, it's his flesh that would develop acne. It's his flesh that could be pierced and torn and bleed. It's his flesh that would be pierced, was torn, and did bleed for you and for me. This is different. This is a very different kind of God. I don't know what you think of when you think of God. But John tells you that Jesus is the word of God, right? Which means Jesus is the revelation of God. He's the communication of God, he's everything that God wants to say to you, wrapped up in a person. And listen, I don't know what vision of God that you've had, what vision of God you buy into, or what got what vision of God that you reject, but have you had a look at Jesus? Have you figured out this guy? Because I tell you, he is a game changer. Lord Byron, the poet, once said, if God is not like Jesus, he ought to be. I think it's a very good line. I think it's very true. I think he just needed to finish the sentence. If God is not like Jesus, he ought to be. But rejoice. God is entirely and utterly and exactly and infinitely and eternally like Jesus. Do you think that's good news? I don't know any better news than that. I really don't know any better news than that. Because here is the news. The news is there is a God of light and life and love, and we've turned away from that God, we have. And if you don't want the light, then I guess what you get is darkness. And if you don't want life, I guess what you get is death. And if you don't want love, I guess what you get is disconnection. And so here we are in a pit of darkness and death and disconnection. And then you think, well, what does God do? What does love do when love sees the beloved in trouble? Well, love says, Your pit will be my pit. Your darkness will be my darkness. Your debts will be my debts. And so here comes Jesus to be one with us in the pit. When we see him in the manger becoming flesh, he's on a trajectory. He's a falling man from heaven down to the virgin's womb, down to the manger, and he keeps on falling. If you keep on reading through John's gospel, you'll see that he lives the life of self-giving love. All the way to the night before Jesus dies, you know what he does to express his love for the world? He washes the feet of his useless, stupid, foolish disciples. Within hours, every one of these guys would desert, deny, or flee or betray him, and still he washes their feet. It's just a picture of what he's about to do the next night. He keeps on stooping, he keeps on serving. Those same hands that washed those feet were nailed to a Roman cross. And this is what Jesus is doing. He's meeting us, meeting us in our darkness, meeting us in our death, meeting us in our disconnection. Because that's what love does. I don't know what you make of this story. Maybe you think it's all nonsense, right? Maybe you think it is a Santa tale, right? Maybe, maybe. But if you walk away from this story, I promise you, you are walking away from the greatest love story ever imagined. Right? You are. You are. You couldn't possibly, you couldn't possibly come up with a love story that is grander than this. Because here we have the greatest lover stooping to the deepest depths in order to rescue us and lift us up into his family. Maybe you don't think that's true. Okay. Maybe it's not true. But if you if you walk away from this, you are walking away from the greatest love story ever told. Doesn't that give you some incentive for looking into it? Some incentive for asking yourself, could this be true? Because if this was true, it's the best news in the world ever. I've got a book here called Love Story. It's just the story of C.S. Lewis's conversion. He one night in 1931 was talking to J.R.R. Tolkien. Wouldn't you want to have been a fly on the wall in that conversation, right? Mr. Nania was talking to Mr. Middle-earth, right? Lewis at this stage was not yet a Christian. Tolkien was. And they were talking about the great stories. And Tolkien was saying to Lewis, you know, the reason why we resonate with these great stories in which someone stoops down, I don't know, maybe the knight comes and slays the dragon and gets the girl. And the reason why we all resonate with these myths, these fairy tales, is, well, maybe we're in a story. And maybe there really is a hero. And Christmas is the myth becoming flesh. It's the great love story earthing itself to planet Earth. Man, you'd be mad if you didn't check this out. You'd be mad if you didn't check this out. Here comes love into our midst. And he becomes flesh. And I love the way John says, we've seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. You want to see God? Clap your eyes on Jesus. And when you see him, he's full of grace, kindness, mercy, love, forgiveness. He's also full of truth. He's a straight shooter. He tells it like it is. He's those two things together. And when you see that irresistible combination, maybe what happened to me will happen to you. You know, I was 20 years old reading through the Gospels, these biographies of Jesus. And I remember getting halfway through Luke's Gospel, it's the biography that's just before John. And I remember seeing Jesus and just thinking to myself, wow, if God's like this, I'm in. You know, before that, I kind of had a view of God as Santa in the sky, and it never did anything for me. Okay? And maybe you can't wrap your head around Christianity. You don't know why Christians get so excited. Maybe that's because the God that you're thinking about is just a Santa in the sky. Who can get that excited about that kind of God? But if God is the God who would stoop and serve and suffer and bleed and die for you, man, that's a game changer, don't you think? When I saw God is like this, I jumped in with both feet and I haven't looked back. What about you? What about you? Do you think you could embrace this Jesus, this revelation of God? If you did, you'd be unwrapping the greatest Christmas present that's ever been given. That's where I'll finish with verse 12. Verse 12 talks about Jesus as the ultimate Christmas present. That's who he is. He's the gift of the Father to our broken, dysfunctional family. And verse 12 says, Yet to all who did receive Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That's the ultimate Christmas present right there. The Father has a gift for you. His Son. Can you doubt that Jesus has been given to you? He's been given to you with every drop of his blood. Of course he's given to you. And I'm now offering you the gift of Jesus, right? That's kind of what preaching is about. Preaching is kind of about extending the invitation that God has to the world. So let me extend the invitation. God has a gift for you. His name is Jesus. He has loved you to hell and back. He has said to you in the darkness, do you want my light? He said to you in disconnection, Do you want my love? He has said to you in death, do you want my life? It's for free and it's forever. Do you want this Jesus? Do you want to receive him? To embrace him. If you do, you are in on the family. Suddenly, if you've got Jesus, well now guess what? His father is your father. And his spirit is your spirit. And his future of feasting joy is your future of feasting joy. Do you want Jesus? Well, if you do, he's just a prayer away. He really is. And perhaps I could best sum up this evening by just offering a little prayer, and it's it's not going to be a particularly intense thing. It's just going to be a thing that says how should I phrase it? It's just going to be a thing that says, Father, if you want to speak to me, then show me Jesus, right? Because if Jesus is the word of God, then investigating Jesus will be your way of having God speak to you. So I'm just going to pray, God, will you show me Jesus? Show me what you're like in the face of Jesus. And then I'll leave the rest up to you. But shall I pray that kind of prayer and you can echo it silently in your heart if you like or not if you don't? But why don't we just bow our heads and let me let me offer a prayer that you could you could pray if you wanted to receive the gift of Jesus. Father, thank you for your love. It's hard here in the dark. And I'm sorry for the way that I contributed to the darkness. Thank you for Jesus. In the face of Jesus. And in his face of you know what you are truly liking.

SPEAKER_10

What I am truly liking.

SPEAKER_02

If I see things clearly, give me the courage, the wisdom, and the joy to receive Christ. In his name. Amen.