This week we have an end of year bonus for you – three for the price of two..
Firstly our morning service from last week.
Then we had a stunning evening – I have read or heard Matthew 1:18-25 every Christmas for 50 years. You would think that there was nothing more to learn…and yet I learned so much from Sinclair’s sermon.
And for a bonus here is the short Christmas Day service with Craig Anderson.
Each Monday I also give a message on the St Peters Website and Facebook page: This was last Mondays.
On this Christmas Eve I would like to wish you all a Christ centred and Christ filled Christmas. If we are doers as well as hearers of the Word, then it will be if we follow what we heard yesterday. In the morning we looked at the grace and gift of Christ making us rich (in the deepest sense of the word) and in the evening Sinclair moved and encouraged us in teaching us about Joseph.
For over 50 years I have heard Matthew 1:18-25 read as the story of Christmas.
You would think that by now I would know it all! But the wonderful thing about
God’s word is that there are always new things to come out of it. We certainly
learned a great deal new last night. Not because Sinclair was speculating or
adding to the Word of God – he was just expounding and explaining it. And it fed
our souls. This is something for which we are profoundly thankful.Christmas is also a time for family. It was good to meet some of your families yesterday at Church – parents from Malaysia, China, Northern Ireland and Scotland. As always it was also good to have visitors from other churches.
On Christmas Day we will have mince pies and drinks from 10:30 and a short service at 11. Please remember Malcolm and Ruth and Friends International as they cater a l Christmas Dinner afterwards in the church hall for a sold-out 70 plus international students. I hope to be spending the day with my parents in the frozen North…but hopefully will see you all this coming Sunday – with the normal services at 11 and 6.
The evening service as our last service of the year will be a communion. Sitting at the Lord’s table is a great way to end the year.
Have a great Christmas!
Your minister,
David
I wonder, was the ”new thing” you learned about this passage that the writer of Matthew, whoever this was , raided Isaiah 7:14 to concoct his little birth narrative?
🙂
Well spotted…although this was hardly new….its basic biblical theology 101….we know that Matthew cited Isaiah 7:14 which prophesied Christ centuries before his birth….
Thank you, David,
for pointing out how uncommonly noticed are the things that Prof. Ferguson says about Joseph. Even in the standard children’s nativity play the inn-keeper has a bigger part than Joseph but reducing him thus to the role of spear-carrier risks missing the point altogether. While Ahaz [Is. 7] misconstrued asking God for a sign as ‘putting God to the test’ and refused to ask, Joseph recognises the fulfilment of the prophecy in the Virgin Conception and goes with Mary to Bethlehem to be registered when the opportunity arises. Joseph is not a cypher but an actor whose decisions and obedience were important factors in the providence of God for the protection of and provision for the Christ-child in his innocence and submission to both his parents.
Yours,
John/.