The Cicadas are loud this year. The Gum trees surrounding my property on the Illawarra escarpment overlooking the Pacific are filled with a great chorus of sound. It is as if they are sounding out the joy of the coming King. Even the Kookaburra’s laugh seems to be one of joy and the Mopoke and the Koel have returned to join the celebrations. As the Christmas Bush flowers and Poinsettia blooms, it seems that the whole of creation is rejoicing with its sounds, displays and fragrances.
Indeed, for those of us who have truly ‘turned to Christ’, that is committed our whole heart to that King, that Jesus come in a feeding box, as our Lord and Saviour, Christmas is truly a time of celebration. A time of Joy as we remember and give thanks to God for the sending of is Son into the world
“that those who believe in Him shall not perish
but have eternal life”
However, as we scan the landscape of our times we also remember that the same Jesus who came in the manger later wept over Jerusalem, the people of God, the people who possessed all the promises of God for a Messiah to come, yet when He did rejected Him.
One can only think that those tears continue to fall in our joy this Christmas time. For there is a supreme and tragic irony, in that at the same time when vast numbers of Australians (westerners) will attend carol services and sing ‘Holy Night’ about the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2) that Jesus broke into our space-time to create, rapidly increasing numbers them reject the one they sing about.
As we celebrate what God has done for us in Christ at Christmas, we should not forget its purpose and the mission Jesus has given us, to ‘Go and make disciples’, disciples of those over whom Jesus continues to weep.
The Cicadas are loud this year. Indeed, the whole of nature shouts out and displays its joy at the priceless gift we have received. But, there are tears falling on the Joy, the tears of Jesus over those who continue to stumble into the darkness of a Christless eternity. It is our individual task to share the reason for our joy, and to shine light in their darkness, not leave it to others.
Who are those we know I wonder, who need to hear about and receive the ‘Love’ that broke into the world at that first Christmas?
unbounded church 