Why celebrate?

By Dave Walker | December 22, 2020 | Comments 14 comments

There’s only one cause to celebrate, this year

As 2020 draws to a close, there’s hardly cause to welcome 2021 with any sort of joyful anticipation.

Many, suffering ‘lockdown fatigue’ are being more lax about the precautions set in place to stop the spread of Covid 19, and infections are soaring. In a malevolent twist, the virus has taken advantage of this and mutated to a more virulent form. Death, suffering, bereavement and fear are trampling our planet.

Until this year, Christmas, for many, has merely been a prelude to welcoming the New Year. Perhaps God is urging us, now, to focus on the real reason we celebrate, for if we do that, we can look to the future with optimism.

If God can be compassionate enough to come to earth and identify with us to the extent that He feels our pain, shares our joys, demonstrates the true heart of God and then represents us before the Father to take our punishment, He will surely see us through this turbulent time if we will entrust ourselves into His loving, capable hands.

So, let’s celebrate the real Christmas story, and let the Prince of Peace speak into our hearts.

Real Christmas

God gave His Son that all the world
Would have the chance to be with Him.
His glorious presence now was curled
Within the confines of a womb.

His gift to Man took history
And pulled its course away from Hell
Unfathomable mystery
A love that has no parallel.

And now to celebrate His gift
Throughout the world we also give,
With presents for our families
With parties, food and talk of love.

Yet often in this crazy world
We give our gifts, not knowing why
We break the bank to buy the best
We worry it won’t satisfy.

We party with our families
We eat and drink and stay up late
But if in this we exclude Him
There’s nothing left to celebrate.

It all becomes an empty show
That merely gets us deep in debt
And all the feasting and the hype
Can’t heal our pain, nor our regrets.

For though we share our human love
Forget our woes with food and wine
Our loneliness requires a heart
That’s grateful for a love divine.

We need to know a God who cares
Who wants us all to worship Him
To celebrate the way He’s made
To rescue us from all our sin.

If we party, give our gifts
Ignoring Him who’s paid the way
Then ‘Happy Christmas’ is just words
Whose meaning fades with Boxing Day

For always when we celebrate
A God who came to be with us
The next act hovers in the wings
A Saviour hanging from a Cross.

It’s He who rolled away the stone
Conquered death and rose again
Ascended to His heavenly throne
And lives within the hearts of men

It’s not His birth that gives us joy
But why He came — what it was for
That’s why we’re grateful, celebrate
The Baby on a bed of straw

As a Little Child

By Dave Walker | October 7, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

Seeing through the eyes of a child

Whew, what a week! We have our four year old grandson with us and it is hectic. I’d forgetten what it is like to have a little child in the house.

But it’s fun, and full of lessons about our walk with our heavenly Father.

For one thing, everything around him inspires wonder.

As adults we get so used to the miracles that surround us each day that we miss the wonder of it all. Yet the intricate way in which the weavers in our garden weave their nests, the tiny buds that form on branches, long bare and barren through the winter months, the way a little insect knows to scurry away as I put a finger near are all wonders of God’s creation.

Even though there might be scientific explanations for all these things, it in no way detracts from the marvel. The laws themselves, dreamed up by God from nothing, should inspire awe.

Then, my little grandson’s every second sentence is punctuated by “Why?”

“Why does this come apart?”

“So we can clean this bit and not the bit with the engine.”

“Why?”

“Because water will stop the engine working.”

“Why?”

And so on ad infinitum.

But without a clue about electricity, how does one explain about water shorting the works?

It makes me realise that God probably has the same problem with us. How often, with our very limited understanding of the true nature of things, do we ask the question “Why, God?”

That probably explains why He seldom answers the question, but graces us with His presence, His comfort and His love. As I say, in God in the ICU:

“There is a deep mystery in suffering. Nowhere does God say He will protect us from it. What He does promise, however is that He will walk with us through it.. Many people, having experienced great suffering through bereavement, persecution, financial hardship or illness testify that those were the times they felt closest to God.”

That’s usually how He answers our question, “Why?” and sometimes (often, actually), I just have to do the same with my grandson.