From Stained Glass to Stable, Seeing Jesus all around us

Is this the season of Xmas? Do we really not know, or not care, whose birth we are celebrating? Maybe baby Jesus looks cute on a Christmas card, but we’re not really sure who he was or why it matters anyway? Jesus has always stirred up questions about who he is. Even those who met him, listened to his words and watched his actions were not sure what to make of him. They asked questions similar to ours-who is this man? What authority does he have to do these things? Why should it matter to me?  
Our fourth window is a picture of a miracle, when Jesus fed five thousand with only a few loaves and fish. But it is also a sign pointing us to who Jesus is, what He offers us and how we can respond.

Since this spring we are enjoying the beautiful Opifex Building every Sunday morning. Have you ever looked at the stained glass windows above the stage? This Sunday we will be looking at two of them: the one with the lamb and also briefly the one with the pelican. We will be digging into some real basics of our faith, that sometimes have become so common to us that we fail to grasp the depth and the beauty of it. Let's try and remember together what God has done for all of us through his Son, the Lamb of God... 

 

Jesus told his disciples a parable about an enemy who had maliciously sown weeds in a field of wheat. It’s a challenging story and not an obvious one for Christmas. But it helps us to understand why it was so important for Israel in the first century that God had sent his Son into the world. This window reminds us that God is in our midst as the God of history—a God who does not give up on his people, no matter what the cost.

Advent is a Season of waiting, of looking forward to the coming of Jesus at Christmas. This Advent we are going to be using the physical symbols that surround us in the building we use every Sunday for worship to point us to Jesus and the reason why he came. We hope that as we open our eyes to see Jesus all around us, we will realise once again the real meaning of Christmas. We begin with the man our building is named after- Joseph the Carpenter.