It’s midnight but morning is coming
It’s midnight… All is quiet. Everything is dark. To all sense and purposes it is just another night… It’s midnight but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and Caesar Augustus sits in his throne – ruling his empire with terror… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… he calls a census to rake in yet more taxes from the people he is oppressing… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and Herod, puppet though he is, fears his own loss of power, and commands that all baby boys under two should be murdered… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the world is groaning under the power of the sword… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the zealots are aching for a saviour who will conquer their enemies in battle… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the religious are longing for a priest who will judge the unclean… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the righteous are yearning for a teacher who will separate the good and the bad… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the distant echoes of the prophets have grown dim – “To you a child is born and he shall be called wonderful counsellor, mighty God, prince of peace”… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the poor have no-one to speak up for them and the bruised reeds are being snuffed out… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the young and the old no longer dream dreams but have given up hope… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the prayers of the people have grown quiet… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and people live in fear… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and Israel feels the weight of her sin upon her shoulders…but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the light of the world has been hidden under a shroud… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and each time the baby pushes down on Mary she lets out a cry… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and honourable Joseph is searching a foreign town, desperately knocking on doors… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and no-one has any room. No-one welcomes the family. No-one opens their door… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and all God’s plans rest on an unborn child in an age when the risk of infant mortality was high… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and there is no midwife, no running water, no-one to help… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and there is no bed… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and they have been travelling for days… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the world stands still… but morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the angels sing out in the sky… morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the shepherds hear the good news “Today in David’s town is born a saviour”… morning is coming
It’s midnight… and they find him just as they have been told – wrapped in cloths and lying ins a manger… morning is coming…
It’s midnight… and wise men, having followed the star and remembered the prophets, lay their gifts at his feet… morning is coming
It’s midnight… and the child born… morning is coming
It’s midnight… a son is given… morning is coming
It’s midnight… Emmanuel… morning is coming
It’s midnight… God with us… morning is coming
It’s midnight… God for us… morning is coming
It’s midnight in our world too – we all know our fair share of pain, and loss and poverty and sadness and grief… all around us we see the signs of darkness – people needing life and light and hope and joy and peace… MORNING IS COMING
God is here
God has come to us…
That is a most significant thing to me – that we are have received a saviour – someone to set us free
Free from fear and sin and pain and brokenness and poverty…
Jesus
Emmanuel
God with us
What is you picture of God. Christmas transforms mine. I am struck by God’s vulnerability, by the risk he took, by the powerlessness, by the insignificance…
Like a candle…
This God is for us
Is for me
Is for you
Don’t we need this God once again in our lives?
