Posted on December 13, 2009 - by Tim L
Living Christmas,….in the Lounge
Living Christmas,…. in the Lounge.
What’s the lounge like in your house?
Is it a place of relaxing, maybe a place of TV, watching? Do you have real fire?
Does it have your favourite chair or sofa to sit in?
Is it a place of welcome and hospitality? Do you sit with friends and family and talk? Do you read a book in the stillness of an empty house?
Is it cosy? Is it warm enough to kick off your shoes and curl up on the sofa. Do you know what it is to be loved in the lounge? Someone brings you a glass of wine or cup of tea?
Maybe it is a place of arguments over who has the remote,…who has the power and control in your lounge.
Maybe it is place of arguments over the TV and who gets to watch what, Strictly or X Factor, Sports personality or X factor final,..
Are there toys all over the floor and you have to mind where you step?
Over the Christmas period, your lounge might take on a different character, …It might become very busy, messy and full of bodies. People asleep after a large lunch, children arguing over the latest toy,…families thrust together for a longer period of time than usual leads to some strained relationships.
How can you live Christmas in the lounge this year rather than just survive?
Maybe you will need a little help from your friends.
The Bridge group sang - With a little help from my friends,...
9Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, 40straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42and sang out exuberantly,
You’re so blessed among women,
and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
43And why am I so blessed that
the mother of my Lord visits me?
44The moment the sound of your
greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
45Blessed woman, who believed what God said,
believed every word would come true!Luke 1: 39 - 45 (The Message)
We watched a film clip. to view it go to or go to and click on Father’s Day on the menu.
It just want to pick up on a couple of things;
One from the reading and songs we heard and the other from the clip we saw.
In the bible passage we read;
Blessed…….who believed what God said, believed every word would come true! (Luke 1;45)
Kathryn Jenkins news album is called Believe.
Sony’s adverts over Christmas have the tag line on the bottom, Make. Believe. It is the first time Sony have ever had a global tag line beneath their name.. And to quote their general manager of Marketing “The brand revealed make.believe in September and it is the first time the brand has had a single message for all its divisions spanning electronics, games, movies, music, mobile phones and network services”
It is suddenly trendy to make.believe. Christians have been saying it for 2000 years!
My question comes down to who you will believe? What do you think is true? Will you be blessed by God or Sony this Christmas?
And my second point comes from that modern re-telling of the Joseph story. Joseph says that the name Jesus means rescuer. When you cry out this Christmas in pain or anger who will you be crying out to. Who will be your rescuer this Christmas?
There will come a point when the lounge is bomb site, when the arguments have become heated, when your tired and want to just fall asleep, or you just want to get away from it all because it is all too much.
Who will be your rescuer this Christmas?
Will you be blessed by God or Sony this Christmas?
Who will be your rescuer this Christmas?
When the world was dark
and the city was quiet,
you came.You crept in beside us.
And no-one knew.
Only the few
who dared to believe
that God might do something different.Will you do the same this Christmas, Lord?
Will you come into the darkness of today’s world;
not the friendly darkness
as when sleep rescues us from tiredness,
but the fearful darkness,
in which people have stopped believing
that war will end
or that food will come
or that a government will change
or that the Church cares?Will you come into that darkness
and do something different
to save your people from death and despair?Will you come into the quietness of this town/village
not the friendly quietness
as when lovers hold hands,
but the fearful silence
when the phone has not rung,
the letter has not come
the friendly voice no longer speaks,
the doctor’s face says it all?Will you come into that darkness,
and do something different,
not to distract, but to embrace your people?And will you come into the dark corners
and the quiet places of our lives?We ask this not because we are guilt-ridden
or want to be,
but because the fullness our lives long for
depends on us being as open and vulnerable to you
as you were to us, when you came,
wearing no more than nappies,
and trusting human hands
to hold their maker.Will you come into our lives,
if we open them to you
and do something different?When the world was dark
and the city was quiet
you came.You crept in beside us.
Do the same this Christmas, Lord.
Do the same this Christmas.
AMEN.Taken from Cloth for the Cradle by the Wild Goose Worship Group, Wild Goose Publications 1997
Please take some time to reflect.