Our daughter is expecting her third child in January. They don’t want to be told whether it’s a boy or a girl; they like the element of surprise. I’m making no predictions as I usually get it wrong and I don’t want anyone blaming me for inappropriate purchases from the January sales based on my prophetic announcements.
William and Kate are expecting their third child too in April. The bookmakers are taking bets on possible names: Alice is the favourite at 8/1. Then joint second at 10/1 are Victoria, Henry and Arthur. John is a frankly disappointing 100/1, and if you fancy a flutter on an outsider, you can get 500/1 on Chardonnay, Jazmin, Donald or Wayne.
By the way, I have two friends called William Hill – what are the odds..?
When it came to the birth of the greatest figure the world has yet seen; the most known about, the most admired, the most quoted, the most influential, Jesus of Nazareth, his sex and name were both announced well before he was born. “You will conceive and give birth to a son,” said Gabriel to Mary, “and you are to call him Jesus.”
The name Jesus means “saviour.” But why do we need a Saviour? Why do we need salvation? What do we need saving from?
The answer lies in the tombs of 50 million victims of Stalin. And the 30 million killed under Mao. And in the killing fields full of bones in Cambodia and Rwanda, and Bosnia and Iraq and Syria.
Our species is a finely tuned killing machine. Of all the species in the animal kingdom only we humans make war on our unborn; 125,000 terminations worldwide every day. 2 million children are exploited for sex by perverts every year.
And the BBC had the gall to produce a 13 part TV series called The Ascent of Man. Our problem is that the moral rise has not kept pace with the technological rise. We can eradicate polio but we can’t get rid of sin without a Saviour.
But the child to come into the world would save people. He would be a rescuer, one who brings forgiveness to the guilty, relief to the suffering, recovery to the lost, and life to the dead.
When this child grew up, he calmed storms with a word, he cleansed lepers with a touch, he opened the eyes of the blind, he discharged debtors, he drove out darkness from tormented souls, he helped paralytics to their feet, he brought hope to the powerless, he beautified the downtrodden, he even raised the dead.
Then he charged his followers, the movement of people who would be called “the church” to do likewise in his name.
More than sixty years ago, an obscure preacher from Chicago called Everett Swanson flew to South Korea to be a chaplain to American troops sent to fight in the Korean War.
During his time in Seoul, he grew increasingly troubled by the sight of hundreds of war orphans living on the streets and abandoned by society.
One morning he saw city workers scoop up what looked like piles of rags and toss them into the back of a lorry. He walked up to take a closer look - and was horrified to see that these were not rags, but the frozen bodies of orphans who had died overnight in the streets.
Swanson raised some money to start an orphanage and that developed into a unique sponsorship programme that allowed an individual in the Western world to provide education, food, clothing, shelter, medical check-ups and spiritual care in local church-based projects. Sponsors and children can exchange letters and visits can be arranged if requested.
Today, over 1.8 million children are sponsored by this ministry, in 25 different countries, for a less than £1 a day each. Several dozen members of All Saints’ are sponsors to children around the world.
It is a very large international organisation now, and it’s simply called Compassion, but that is only a drop in the bucket of the vast difference the church is making globally to bring about transformation to an acutely suffering world in the name of Jesus Christ.
All this is part of the fulfilment of the words of the angel to Mary in Luke 1. “He will be great… and his kingdom will never end.”
It’s part of the fulfilment of the words of the angel to the shepherds in Luke 2. “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
This year, I learned about the story of Grace. Back in 1994, as the war continued to wreak havoc in Burundi, a nurse was in the public lavatories of a hospital when she spotted something moving in the toilet.
It was a premature baby that had been abandoned, and somehow it was still alive. The nurse fished the baby out, washed it in water, and contacted a Christian called Chrissie Chapman, who was the only person in Bujumbura taking in abandoned babies or orphans at the time.
Chrissie took the baby in aged five days old and weighing 5lb and gave her the most beautiful name, the only name, to capture what her little life embodied: Grace.
Chrissie had to give Grace because the open end of the umbilical cord had been in contact with the toilet water. Sadly, these antibiotics, due to their strength in high doses, were what probably led to Grace losing any sense of hearing.
A specialist diagnosed her deafness months later, but there was nothing that could be done. When Grace was 6 months old a pastor came by and offered to pray for her. He anointed her ears with oil and prayed for Grace’s hearing to be restored in the name of Jesus.
It seemed to make her worse! For the next three days, Grace screamed every minute she was awake. Nobody knew what to do.
It was only when someone accidentally slammed a door and Grace suddenly jolted that they realized her tears and screams were because she had been healed and could now hear what was going on around her.
That was 1994. Grace has matured into a delightful young lady. She is full of faith. She finished school with good grades and was awarded a four-year University scholarship. She knows that God has big plans for her life.
Her life was saved for a reason; her story has already impacted many lives, and she is amply fulfilling her fulfil her potential to God’s glory. She’s also committed to returning to Burundi after her studies to play her part in its healing and transformation.
“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour… a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 24 December 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment