Discover the love of God this Christmas

Used by permission of Unsplash 

Many years ago there was a young German girl whose father was a printer. He was printing the German Bible that had just been translated by Martin Luther. One day his young daughter found a scrap of paper that had fallen to the floor in the cutting room. The paper contained words from John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave…” but the rest of the verse was missing. She was intrigued by this statement. She read it to herself over and over, “God so loved the world that He gave, God so loved the world that He gave.” 

She liked it so much that she kept it close to her heart and read it every day. She was raised to know that God was just, and Holy, that He hates sin and is angry with the sinner, but she had never read that God loved her so much that He gave…although she did not know what exactly He had given. This revelation brought such joy to her heart that she was singing, and her mother noticing the happy little girl asked, “What is the matter with you?” “Oh mother it is wonderful,” she said, pulling out the little sliver of paper. “Read what it says…‘God so loved the world that He gave.’” “Gave what?” her mother asked. “I do not know, but if He loved me enough that He gave anything at all, I will never be afraid of Him again.”

It is John in his Gospel who says that "God so loved the world that He gave...." But what was His gift? A diamond? A kingdom? A planet? A universe? No! It is so much more! Something priceless and beyond imagination. He gave His Son. And not one of many, but the Only One  that He had. 

Each year we are reminded that Christmas should not be just about giving and receiving presents. But, if we truly think about Christmas, it is, indeed, all about gift giving! At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the greatest gift ever given, by the greatest gift-giver of all, our wonderful God and Father! This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift - the Christ."

Used by permission of Your542Day - Written by Peter Francis for Messages with Meaning (10/12/20)

England v Slovakia - saved by the Bellingham!

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Winning a match at the last minute can be viewed in two ways. You could say what a pathetic team; they only won by the 'skin of their teeth' and were just lucky. Or, you might say - 'they kept pushing', 'they got there in the end', 'they shone when they needed it most' - 'they showed their colours' when they needed to or 'when push came to shove' they won! 'Saved by the Bellingham' is the latest idiom used to describe the last-minute success of the England Football team based on the well-known phrase - 'saved by the bell'.  

The phrase 'saved by the bell' is used when someone has been saved by the timely intervention of something or someone or when one has been rescued from difficulty at the last second (source - www.gingersoftware.com). 

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So, where did the phrase come from?

The widely accepted belief is that 'saved by the bell' originated as an expression about people being buried alive. The concept was that if someone was unconscious and mistakenly pronounced dead and buried, they could, if they were later revived, ring a bell attached to the coffin and be saved. This theory, while plausible, is not without its uncertainties. There's no concrete evidence that anyone was ever saved by these coffins or that they were ever used, and there's a similar lack of evidence that the phrase 'saved by the bell' was ever used in that sense before it had been used in other contexts.

How to live for the good of others

It is reported that there are 7.5 billion people living on planet earth today and sad to say not many of them could say that they have never misappropriated something that belonged to another person i.e. that they have not committed theft. Possibly, the same could be said about lying but that is another subject.  

The eighth commandment is ‘Thou shalt not steal’, the sixth is ‘Thou shalt not kill’, the seventh ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’. So, God was precise in giving us an exact code of moral conduct for life.  

The definition of theft is to ‘dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it’. The word ‘theft’ covers many acts of misappropriation - larceny (theft of personal property), robbery, fraud (identity, benefits, expenses, mortgage, insurance etc), embezzlement and burglary.  

Armistice Day

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The Armistice of 11 November 1918, signed at Le Francport near Compiègne, ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their last remaining opponent, Germany. It came into force at 11:00 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a defeat for Germany, although not formally a surrender. Sadly 2,738 men died on the last day of the war. 

In November 2014, when I was in London with my wife and daughter (who incidentally celebrates her birthday today), we visited the major art installation "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red" at the Tower of London. We viewed in the early evening when the floodlit display of poppies was at its eeriest. It marked one hundred years since the first full day of Britain's involvement in the First World War. Created by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with stage designer Tom Piper, 888,246 ceramic poppies had progressively filled the Tower's famous moat over that summer. Each poppy represented a British military fatality during the war. The poppies encircled the iconic landmark, creating a spectacular display visible from all around the Tower and a location for personal reflection. 

Remembering Sir Nicholas Winton

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Towards the end of 1938, a stock-broker, born to German-Jewish parents, travelled from England, which had become his home, to Prague, Czechoslovakia, knowing that upon arrival, he would find many people displaced from their homes. Some were living with relatives, others living rough or in camps with little food and trying their best to keep warm in the winter conditions. At the age of 29, he had so far lived a relatively comfortable life, but hearing about Jews who had lost their jobs and suffered other forms of persecution, he set out to see if there was anything he could do to help.

Whilst a number of organisations were working away, things were getting tougher. He was concerned with rescuing children, but amongst other challenges, was the problem of transporting unaccompanied children across Europe into Britain. Nicholas used his political connections to put certain things in order and his mother went to the ‘Home Office’ to make his rescue plan possible.