The church Christmas tree arrived today and was lying outside the building earlier this morning. Our own tree still sits in our garage and almost certainly wont go up until after bedtime for some on Friday of this week.
Most of us still have a Christmas tree each year, some real, some those ghastly fake ones or even worse (!) one of those fibre optic ones...
Most of us also have a box of decorations that we keep in the loft and that we unpack with childlike wonder. The decorations themselves usually carry the weight of many memories: things our children made at school as well as decorations passed to us from parents or grandparents, perhaps reminding us of our own childhood.
We usually put a star or an angel at the top of the tree. This even happens in the homes of those who won't be planning any visits to church at Christmas. Yet it gets us back to the heart of the story – the strange announcement to Mary that she would bear God’s son; a new star rising, offering the world a different path to follow.
I wonder though what stars are you following? What do you really want to get out of life? No one on their deathbed says that they wished they had spent more time at the office!
I wonder what angels will visit you today? What messages are you listening to? Those siren voices complaining that you aren’t good enough, rich enough, clever enough, attractive enough? The word angel means ‘messenger’. There are messages for you today.
The message of Christmas, is simple and clear: God loves you for who you are - not what you do, how hard you work, whether you are fat or thin. No strings. We don't have to earn approval. God thinks you’re OK, that he has a purpose for your life that he can be alive in you.
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