I was watching a really nice movie on TV the other night, Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz in a movie called “In her shoes”. If you missed it Collette and Diaz, are sisters who are beautiful soul mates to one another, everything you could ever hope for in a sibling relationship, pulled off with all the class Toni & Cameron can muster. But then in the movie something happens that makes them have a falling out and total estrangement from one another. The movie then follows them in their pain and grief; they would both love to have a fresh start but they do not know how to deal with the past and to enable this fresh start.
Well of course you get your happy Hollywood ending; they eventually do get past it and there is this lovely renewal of relationship. And yes I did tear up at the end but we wont go there!
I mention the movie because I want to put out there a question. A question which is one of the most fundamental of life’s questions, which is at the heart of our humanity and which a time like Christmas throws up for us...
This is the question: “if it were possible would you be interested in that kind of fresh start with God?”
See, God offering us a fresh start is precisely what Christmas and the coming of Jesus is all about.
Firstly, Christmas is about God taking the first step
Jesus is not just another nice guy with a few helpful religious things to say, he is God come up close and personal.
Another thing on TV at the moment is the show “Undercover Boss”? The bosses of companies, like Dominos, for a week or so becomes one of the employees, and experiences life on the front line / on the factory floor of the business. Its seems to me the results are often pretty humbling and amazing for everyone concerned in the show.
Now imagine this, imagine how much more humbling and amazing it is to hear that the God and creator of this universe has taken the first step and put on the clothes of our humanity.
WOW! This blows away any idea that God is some cranky old man in the sky.
You have got to look at that little baby on that Christmas night with all its delicate and fragile bits and pieces and you have to wrestle with the question what sort of God does that? What must God be like on the inside that he does something like that for you?
Christmas is about God taking the first step, and he takes this first step to offer us a fresh start...
Everywhere you look in the Bible, as you hear Jesus speak, you hear words offering a fresh start...
So for example Jesus (that is God) is always spending time with those you would consider the “unworthies” of our world, he just can’t seem to get enough of it; and his message is always the same: “Come and be with me, come and follow me; you can find a fresh start with me; I will wipe the slate clean and I will help you set your life on the right track.
He would offer that to the worst of the worst. No one is too bad for him, his offer is to everybody and he will receive anybody. And so the message is clear: you too can find a fresh start with God.
So here is the issue we all need to deal with. Who will be king?
Because if you want to come to Jesus for a fresh start we need to understand there can be only one King.
And this is where it is so important to come and get to know Jesus, this is where you really need to take a close look at his life because as you watch him in action, listen to him and see how he responds to people then you can see that he is worthy, he is worthy to be your king. that its ok to give him the reigns; he can be trusted with your life.
Can I just say St Andrew’s is a church for people who want that fresh start, St Andrew’s is full of people who know the joy of recieving that fresh start and we want to invite you to join us and be a part of what God is doing in the world.
Well of course you get your happy Hollywood ending; they eventually do get past it and there is this lovely renewal of relationship. And yes I did tear up at the end but we wont go there!
I mention the movie because I want to put out there a question. A question which is one of the most fundamental of life’s questions, which is at the heart of our humanity and which a time like Christmas throws up for us...
This is the question: “if it were possible would you be interested in that kind of fresh start with God?”
See, God offering us a fresh start is precisely what Christmas and the coming of Jesus is all about.
Firstly, Christmas is about God taking the first step
Jesus is not just another nice guy with a few helpful religious things to say, he is God come up close and personal.
Another thing on TV at the moment is the show “Undercover Boss”? The bosses of companies, like Dominos, for a week or so becomes one of the employees, and experiences life on the front line / on the factory floor of the business. Its seems to me the results are often pretty humbling and amazing for everyone concerned in the show.
Now imagine this, imagine how much more humbling and amazing it is to hear that the God and creator of this universe has taken the first step and put on the clothes of our humanity.
WOW! This blows away any idea that God is some cranky old man in the sky.
You have got to look at that little baby on that Christmas night with all its delicate and fragile bits and pieces and you have to wrestle with the question what sort of God does that? What must God be like on the inside that he does something like that for you?
Christmas is about God taking the first step, and he takes this first step to offer us a fresh start...
Everywhere you look in the Bible, as you hear Jesus speak, you hear words offering a fresh start...
So for example Jesus (that is God) is always spending time with those you would consider the “unworthies” of our world, he just can’t seem to get enough of it; and his message is always the same: “Come and be with me, come and follow me; you can find a fresh start with me; I will wipe the slate clean and I will help you set your life on the right track.
He would offer that to the worst of the worst. No one is too bad for him, his offer is to everybody and he will receive anybody. And so the message is clear: you too can find a fresh start with God.
So here is the issue we all need to deal with. Who will be king?
Because if you want to come to Jesus for a fresh start we need to understand there can be only one King.
And this is where it is so important to come and get to know Jesus, this is where you really need to take a close look at his life because as you watch him in action, listen to him and see how he responds to people then you can see that he is worthy, he is worthy to be your king. that its ok to give him the reigns; he can be trusted with your life.
Can I just say St Andrew’s is a church for people who want that fresh start, St Andrew’s is full of people who know the joy of recieving that fresh start and we want to invite you to join us and be a part of what God is doing in the world.
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