Real Hope: A Connected ChristmasSample

A Feast Of The Upside-Down Kingdom

December almost gets lost in the mad rush to Christmas. Time accelerates in a frenzy before we collapse in a heap on Boxing Day.

But for many, Christmas marks loss rather than celebrates connection. Last year, a young man lay in the street banging his fists on the path and wailing, ‘Mum, mum, why can’t I see you? I want you.’ The offer of an embrace and to join our Christmas street party seemed a feeble gesture, yet we offered it hoping he would see that the approach was made in love.

At our Wayside Street Christmas Party, we set a table for everyone, smile to greet them , and usher them to seats. My sermon begins with, ‘Distinguished Guests! That covers the lot of you.

We offer the gift of presence day in and day out to people in deep pain. We can be here for the long haul that sees people move from isolation and desperation to true belonging in a community of care.

The first 14 verses of Matthew 22 describe an upside-down, lavish party where the most unlikely were the honoured guests – a party full of the ‘wrong people’. To describe the reign of God, Jesus described this gathering of rag-tag misfits eating and celebrating together. It’s the scandal of the Gospel and is foolishness to this world. As Charles Spurgeon once quipped, ‘I am but one beggar, helping another beggar find bread’.

You are invited to join God’s upside-down party, especially at Christmas.

written by JON OWEN