HE SHALL BE CALLED – THE SON OF GOD (Matthew 2 v. 13 – 15, Hebrews 1 v. 1 – 4)
I read recently that just 12% of British adults can tell the nativity story, the account of the birth of Jesus. I haven’t done the research but I reckon it’s safe to say that many more people would know that one of the names Jesus is given at His birth is Son of God. One of the most well-known carols declares this truth: “Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love’s pure light”.
The problem for many of us is that we’re so used to hearing Jesus described as Son of God, that like we heard from Tim Barton earlier in this Christmas series, we yawn and say to ourselves, “Tell me something I didn’t know”. To borrow from something Tim Fellows said in our last “journey morning”, the greatest challenge facing the church in our country is not atheism, financial pressure or the passing of laws which seem to undermine Christian faith and practice. Our biggest challenge is dullness: that we’ve lost a sense of wide-eyed wonder at who God is and all that He has done and is doing. And so the biggest danger for all of us at Christmas is that we hear the message, sing the carols, and get on with life as it has always been.
Perhaps part of what God wants to do in this Christmas series is recreate in us a sense of wonder, child-like amazement at the news which Christmas declares to our world. Turkey, tinsel and television might just dull our senses to reality, but the God who is with us, the God who rescues us, the God who is King amongst us might just wake us up and bring us to life again. My prayer for myself and for all of us is that we will go into the Christmas season with our eyes wide open, open to what’s going on around us and open in wonder as we gaze at Jesus the Son of God.
David Faulkner