Sermons on Christmas

Advent 2023: Peace

As we conclude our Advent series for 2023 Chris looks at Jesus bringing peace to the world. This doesn’t just mean no conflict; it means true Shalom peace, the reconciliation and reunification of God’s people. The making right of the world. And Jesus calls us to do that right alongside him.

We also have prayers for peace in situations in our lives and around the world whilst Pete leads our sung Christmas worship.

Advent 2023: Joy

We continue our Advent series for 2023 and Chris looks this week at the joy that Jesus brings. Joy is a simple but powerful word. It’s not something that we can force ourselves to feel, but something that processes out of glorifying and rejoicing in the Lord. Even in our darkest moments we are called to rejoice in the Lord and what Jesus has done, from this rejoicing will come our joy!

Ant leads the rest of the service with a rather unorthodox baking tutorial whilst Lynne and Dave lead our sung worship.

Advent 2023: Faith

After our all-age service last week we now start our Advent series for 2023 in earnest with Chris looking at the interconnected nature of hope, faith, joy and peace. This week he looks at faith, the nature of the faith we have in God, how faith comes out of hope, and how faith must inevitably lead to action: otherwise we might as well not have it at all.

Susan leads the rest of our service whilst Pete and Nick lead our sung worship.

All Age Service: Preparing for Christmas

As we enter Advent for another year, Shona kicks us off by leading us in our all-age service for December. In the service we look at three things we can do to prepare ourselves for Christmas: we can 1) Wait in, 2) hope and 3) praise.

Chris leads us in our prayers this week whilst Mike and Ricky lead our sung worship.

Advent in 4D: John

This week we complete our Advent series with Chris looking at John’s account of the coming of Jesus. Like Mark he dispenses with the story of the birth, choosing not to to focus on the literal events that took place but on the immense implications of Jesus’ arrival. He takes us right the way back to Genesis and Exodus to explain how the same God that created the world and had spoken to Moses through the burning bush came down to Earth in the form of Jesus. His purpose is to explain these events so that through the spirit-influenced writings we may be confident in our belief in Jesus.

Karen leads the rest of the service whilst Mike leads our sung worship and we also share communion together.

Advent in 4D: Luke

As we get ever closer to Christmas Chris continues our Advent series looking at how the four gospel writers introduce Jesus. This week we think about Luke, the historian. Luke was a learned man, he was a man of evidence-based research and he spends a significant amount of time in his gospel not just relaying the stories of Jesus’ life but explaining the evidence for them so that we can be sure what is written is true. His introduction to Jesus’ life is no different. What evidence can we see that makes us trust in God more?

Mike and Lynne lead our sung worship and we have an update from our mission of the month, BMS.

Advent in 4D: Mark

For December’s All-Age service we continue with our theme of looking at how the four different gospel writers introduce Jesus. This week Shona looks at Mark, the tabloid journalist. There’s no messing around with Mark, he skips over Jesus’ birth entirely and jumps straight to John the Baptist and Jesus’ own baptism. John speaks about Jesus using the prophecies of Isaiah, written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. What signposts do we see in our lives?

Nick leads our sung worship.

Advent in 4D: Matthew

As we enter the season of Advent, looking forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus at Christmas, this year we are looking at how each Gospel writer records that event. Chris begins by looking at Matthew, the teacher, who opens his book with a recording of the genealogy of Jesus showing that Jesus came both from the line of kings but also a group of ordinary people who didn’t know their part in the great events to come. Yet through that line, God kept his promise. How do we see God keeping his promises today?

Andy leads the rest of the service with a game that is a twist on an old TV show, whilst Mike and Lynne lead our sung worship. We also share Communion together.