Monday 30 December 2024

Today is Monday the 30th of December in the season of Christmas. One Hope Project sings ‘Once in Royal David’s City’. Once in royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for His bed: Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little Child. He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all, and His shelter was a stable, and His cradle was a stall: with the poor, and meek, and lowly, lived on earth our Saviour holy. And our eyes at last shall see Him, through His own redeeming love; for that Child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heav'n above, and He leads His children on to the place where He is gone. Not in that poor lowly stable, with the oxen standing by, we shall see Him, but in heaven, set at God’s right hand on high; when like stars His children crowned all in white shall wait around. Today’s reading is from the First Letter of John. 1 John 2:12-17 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever.  John starts this part of his letter by praising the strengths of the people he is writing to. He tells them that that is why he has chosen to write to them. Hear him say to you, now: “I am writing to you, because …” How does that sentence finish? John goes on to be very critical of what he calls “the world”. Is this how you see the world where you live? If so, why? If not, why not? “Those who do the will of God live for ever”, John concludes. Take a quiet moment or two to let that promise sink in. As the passage is read again, notice all the strengths of his various readers that John lists. Which of those do you share? Finish by speaking to the Father, or to Jesus, about what you have noticed in this time of prayer. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.