Christmas 2024 messages: Lighthouse Church chair of church council Jeremy Beckett promotes Christmas story

Christmas is surely upon us. The town has exploded into colour and the family calendar is bursting with activity: end-of-school events, Christmas parties, Carols by Candlelight. It’s all very familiar. The other familiar feeling is one of a deep weariness in our bones as we limp to the finish line of another hectic year. We look enviously at the festive glee of the children for whom Christmas remains a time of unfettered delight and wonder. Are our memories good enough to remember back to our own childhood experience of restless anticipation? How well did you sleep on Christmas Eve as a child, and at what ungodly hour did you awake to see if Santa had done his rounds? What would it be like to rediscover the wonder of Christmas as adults? How might we feel to hear the story afresh, as though for the first time? Consider the unimaginable surprise that is the Christmas story: the all-powerful God of the universe stoops to present Himself before His created people in the humblest form conceivable. A helpless baby is birthed among domesticated animals yet is welcomed by a glorious angelic chorus and a promise of peace and hope. Joy to the world, the Lord has come! This Christmas, take a breath and try to see it all through new eyes. Behold the miracle of Christmas in all its wonder. God has revealed Himself in Jesus, and He is glorious. May His peace and joy be upon you this Christmas.