Phil on ... XMAS

If you missed the sermon during the morning service recently you missed a treat. Norman Prophett gave the address along with a sheep called Snowy. Don’t worry, there wasn’t a live sheep roaming around church, rather a glove puppet.
I don’t know about you but I’ve always disliked the use of “Xmas”. I always associate it with the excessive commercialisation that increasingly accompanies Christmas these days. Now don’t get me wrong I love all the presents, family get-togethers, good-hearted arguments over board games and gorgeous food over the festive period but I think it’s important to spend at least some time thinking about the reason for the season. It turns out that Xmas is a useful reminder of what Christmas is really about:
1. Xmas is a short word compared with Christmas. It shows that most people don’t have space for “Christ” in Christmas. Christ ought to be the start to Christmas.
2. The letter “X” could represent love, as in the kisses on Christmas cards we write to loved ones.
3. “X” can also mean wrong or a mistake. This helps remind us that, whilst we have all made mistakes in our lives, God sent his son Jesus to wipe away all our sins even though we don’t deserve it. Which, in the words of our American friends, is pretty awesome when you think about it. So awesome that hopefully we should want to mimic Jesus by showing love to others, even when it’s not appreciated.
At this point it was clear that Snowy was a little confused as he told us he thought his school teachers loved him very much because he has so many “X’s” in his homework book!
4. If we turn the letter “X” through 45 degrees we find the symbol of the cross. Again reminding us that Jesus died for our sins.
Snowy completed the talk by saying he was going to eat rather than do his homework. When asked why he revealed that his teachers had told him the homework this week was a piece of cake!
If you’d like to check out the Christmas story this Christmas, you can do so by reading Chapters 1 and 2 in the New testament books of either Matthew or Luke.