Readings:
Sermon:
I love visiting schools and meeting hard working staff, and of course the children in all their infinite variety! Recently I was visiting St Mark’s Church of England Primary in Pensnett. It is an area of significant deprivation. One statistic stood out to me as I spent time with the children. Those born in Pensnett today have a life expectancy ten years shorter than those born just a few miles further south. That is a shocking statistic. But it motivates the Headteacher and staff to do all they can to turn that around. To hope for and expect better outcomes for those children. To bring light in the midst of darkness. To enable those children themselves to be beacons of light in their communities.
In the midst of a world full of darkness and despair, the light of Christ brings hope. In the midst of a cost of living crisis church schools and churches bring help and friendship, with the God of love at the heart of all that they do.
God came to live amongst us at Christmas. God was born amongst us in Jesus.
But there was a cost to that living. To Mary in giving birth. To Jesus as he was misunderstood, and when cruel men would take and nail him to the cross. To Mary again as she watched his agony and death.
God is as he is in Jesus and so I know God is with all who are suffering today, wherever they may be.
That wasn’t the end of course, as Easter will show us soon enough. But for now let us be confident. God’s love is stronger, stronger even than this dark world’s hate.
The children of St Mark’s Pensnett sang a joyful song ‘My Lighthouse’ and told me about Jesus being a light to lighten their path.
And Christmas reminds us that even in the darkest of times we are not alone, God is with Us in Jesus, Emmanuel. In the darkest of nights, his light will shine.