Frodsham Methodist Church
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • What We Believe
    • Safeguarding
    • Inclusivity
    • Pastoral Letters
    • Music
    • History
    • Venue Hire
    • Find
    • Contact
  • Get Involved
    • New Here?
    • Reflections
    • News & Notices
    • Magazine
    • Prayer
    • Facilities Bookings (LOGIN)
  • Worship
    • Worship Guide
    • Sunday Holy Communion
    • 3rd Sunday
    • Sunday Morning Worship
    • Sunday Evening Worship
    • Monday Prayer Group
    • Monday Lectionary Group
    • Mid-Week Praise Services
  • Fellowship
    • Ukranian Drop In / Safe Space
    • Book Group
    • Church Walks
    • Small Groups
    • Ladies Group
    • Coffee and Chat
    • Men's Club
  • Young Families
    • Fusion 12
    • Messy Mice
    • Toddler Group
  • Community
    • About Frodsham
    • Charity & Giving
    • Fair Trade
    • Anti-Human Trafficking
    • Churches Together
    • Links

Discover a vulnerable God this Christmas‏

24/12/2012

 
Picture
In his Christmas message, the Rev'd. Dr Mark Wakelin, President of the Methodist Conference, urges people to discover a "vulnerable God" in Jesus this festive season.

The full text of the message follows:

"Truly this was the Son of God!

"I was asked once by a well-known broadcaster, ‘do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?’ I replied, as you do, by asking him, ‘it depends on what you mean by, ‘Son of God.’  His reply shook me because he then said, ‘It’s a perfectly simple question, ‘Is Jesus Christ the Son of God?' My own thought was immediately, ‘I wonder which bit of ‘Son of God’ he is finding simple?'

"I presume he meant do I believe in a literal way? But that is hardly simple. Literal language is OK for baked beans and possibly sunsets, but it gets a bit thin when talking about most of the things that really matter such as love, sadness and wonder. It runs out of steam totally when talking of God. You can’t say anything literal about God! 

"I was once in an argument about the new hymn book (I am afraid I get a bit grumpy about some of the alterations to ancient poems that we make and think that our desire to modernise the old is a little like the Christians who wanted to cover the modesty of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel). My colleague disliked the word ‘ineffable’ because he felt no one would understand it. There is a certain irony in that as you can imagine! Given that ‘ineffable’ basically means something we can’t understand, I would have thought it was a useful word to hang on to if we also want to talk about God. God is ‘ineffable’ – and that’s the point. 

"That’s the point of Christmas. How does God communicate with us when words are not adequate? How can we even try to talk of God when literal language so lets us down? God’s answer is, of course, the ‘self sending’ – of a God who in Charles Wesley’s words is, ‘contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man.’ What we can ever understand of God has to begin by taking account of God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Who is written about in Colossians 1:15: ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation’ and verse 19: ‘For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.’ 

"The ‘Word’ is God, says John. Now this isn’t simple language either, but it directs you a kind of struggle to understand that is different from, for example, trying to get your head around Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity! Because it is truth revealed and held in a person, understanding and engaging with that truth is as much about love and obedience as it is about intellectual capacity and linguistic dexterity. We are not so much asked to assent to a philosophical or religious claim, ‘yes I agree that Jesus is the Son of God,’ but inhabit a story, the Christmas story, to live within ancient tale of human struggle and courage, of wonder and delight, of mystery and of angels declaring good news. Children get this much more easily than adults who want the whys and the wherefores of an extraordinary story which is far more than an odd biological claim on the Universe.

"Do I believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Of course, wonder of wonders, ‘Let earth and heaven combine, angels and men agree, to praise in songs divine the incarnate deity.’ I inhabit this ancient story and find it to be true. Wrapped in our clay we may not immediately recognise the creator of all things. But it is our life task, to discover a vulnerable God who is on a mission to finish the ‘new creation’ and is looking for followers.

"Happy Christmas!"



Comments are closed.

    News & Notices

    To receive a copy of the weekly Church News & Notices electronically, contact us here.
    ​
    ​It is normally distributed by e-mail on a Thursday and is available in Church each Sunday and throughout the week.
    ​

    RSS Feed


    ​Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

©2020 Frodsham Methodist Church
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • What We Believe
    • Safeguarding
    • Inclusivity
    • Pastoral Letters
    • Music
    • History
    • Venue Hire
    • Find
    • Contact
  • Get Involved
    • New Here?
    • Reflections
    • News & Notices
    • Magazine
    • Prayer
    • Facilities Bookings (LOGIN)
  • Worship
    • Worship Guide
    • Sunday Holy Communion
    • 3rd Sunday
    • Sunday Morning Worship
    • Sunday Evening Worship
    • Monday Prayer Group
    • Monday Lectionary Group
    • Mid-Week Praise Services
  • Fellowship
    • Ukranian Drop In / Safe Space
    • Book Group
    • Church Walks
    • Small Groups
    • Ladies Group
    • Coffee and Chat
    • Men's Club
  • Young Families
    • Fusion 12
    • Messy Mice
    • Toddler Group
  • Community
    • About Frodsham
    • Charity & Giving
    • Fair Trade
    • Anti-Human Trafficking
    • Churches Together
    • Links