Stainglass window
Christmas 2011
3rd Dec Advent Party
12th Dec @ 2pm
Carol Service at Oak tree Court
16th Dec @ 2.30pm
Carol Service at Stratford Court
17th Dec @11am
Carol Singing outside Co-Op
18th Dec Nativity and Christingle Service and Carol Service
24th Dec @ 11pm (Service starts at 11.30pm
United Service at URC Etwall Rd
25th Dec @10am
Christmas Day Service
"Still Dreaming of Peace"
Dear Friends,
Last month I wrote about the hopes and dreams for peace on earth that we share with those Old Testament prophets like Isaiah and Micah. But looking at what they wrote all those hundreds of years ago reveal to us that our dreams of peace must not be separated from the Kingdom of God, and of his Messiah ("chosen one")
In those Bible passages which we so often hear read around Christmastime, the promise of peace and well-being is inextricably linked with the reign of God and his Messiah. Only then will there be an end to political and economic oppression. Only then will there be an end to hateful and divisive ideology. Only then will they learn - and practise- peace.
On the cornerstone of a wall at the united Nations headquarters in New York these words from Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 are inscribed: "They shall beat their swords into ploughshears. And their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war any more" But as Isaiah and Micah make clear, this peace will only become a reality only when the nations are ready to submit to God's teaching that comes "out of Zion" (Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2), where the one true God has revealed himself.
This is not to denIgrate the United Nations and its work. Our world would indeed be a much worse place without the United nations. But a united world - a true league of nations- will only happen when God's kingsom comes, when God's Messiah transforms God's world. Then, when the "Prince of Peace" is on the throne, "there shall be endless peace" (Isaiah 9: 6,7); then everyone "shall live secure" (Micah 5:4)
This dream of world peace has yet to materialize. And there is a difference between us and those Old Testament prophets. For the good news of Christmas is that the coming of Jesus a beachhead of the Kingdom has been established in our world. so the angels sang of the "peace" that God now offers us all (Luke 2:14). So the apostle Paul could write to the Ephesians, "He (i.e. Jesus Christ- the Messiah) is our peace", for by his death on the cross Jesus has "broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us" (Ephesians 2:14). The hostility Paul had in mind was the division between Jew and Gentile, a division that was as sharp then, as the division between Jew and Palestinian today. But just as in the first century even the bitterest of divisions were overcome in Christ, so today in the twenty-first century the bitterest of divisions may be overcome in Christ.
There is a place for dreaming of peace. But these dreams must not be disassociated from the coming of the God's Kingdom, and of his Messiah. For without Jesus the Christ ("Christ" is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word "Messiah") the dream will remain a dream. But with him, the dream can - and will-become a reality.
As we celebrate his birth once more, may you know for yourself the reality of the peace that only Jesus can bring.
Your friend and pastor,
Jonathan Calvert