Faversham Times: Thought For The Week
Published 22 November 2012

Giving is central to Christmas. We’ll probably all give and receive some cards and presents. We may give or receive hospitality – maybe a party or buying someone a drink in the pub (or receiving one if we’re lucky). But why do we give? Because we’re caught up in a consumerist frenzy? Because we’re recreating the magic of a childhood Christmas? Perhaps. But surely the real reason is because God gives, generously, extravagantly. God gives not only all he has, but all he is. The Bible says that the ‘Word became flesh and lived among us’ – the creator of all things gave up all that he is to become all that we are. The poet Steve Turner put it like this:

Like your landlord becoming your lodger
Like your managing director up before you for an interview
Like Beethoven queuing up for a ticket to his own concert
Like a headmaster getting the cane
Like a good architect living in a slum built by a rival
Like Picasso painting by numbers –
God lived among us.

In the mad rush of Christmas preparations we need to take time to realise that God loves us so much that he broke into human history to be with us and share all that is in our lives.

But what good is a present that remains unopened? Giving is worthless if there’s no receiving. This Christmas, perhaps for the first time or perhaps as you have done many times before, recognise Jesus as God’s gift to you and receive him.