With Gen Z leading the charge 2024 is going to be another year where the cost of Christmas is loaded onto credit cards. But when did our love affair with credit begin? 

Back in the 1950’s the Bank of America sent an unsolicited credit card to every one of its 60,000 customers. Known as the ‘Fresno Drop’ it was a spectacular success, and within two years a million cards were in use.  As we all know, however, the downside of credit cards are the huge debts and interest payments that can accrue over time, earning a lot of money for the lender. The ‘Fresno Drop’ was not the generous act of a big-hearted bank that it might have seemed.

At Christmas we remember that God also loves to give credit. But the credit he offers is a free gift and the only interest involved is his interest in restoring our relationship with him. The ‘Jesus Drop’ of 2,000 years ago suddenly made this credit available to all.

The Fresno and Jesus credit drops do have one thing in common and it’s this: ease of acceptance. Fresno customers just had to open an envelope and sign the card, and all we need to do is say yes to Jesus.

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You won’t be surprised to discover that we spend a lot of our lives waiting for things. According to some research, we spend on average 20 minutes a day waiting for a bus or train, 32 minutes every time we visit the Dr, 13 hours a year on hold, and 38 hours a year stuck in traffic. So, what do we do while we’re waiting and in the end is the wait worth the time we’ve spent?

Advent is a season for waiting and for most of us the wait is for Christmas Day. For adults the days will pass too quickly with our endless to-do lists, while for children the days will drag. But when the big day finally comes will our hopes have been fulfilled or will be left with feelings of emptiness and disappointment?

For hundreds of years people waited for the first Christmas, the birth of a promised saviour, and they were not disappointed. Jesus came as God made flesh to dwell among us. The greatest gift ever given he alone brings the fulness of life we all long for. For Christians Advent is a season with a guaranteed outcome, the celebration of a perfect gift once given, and the anticipation of his soon return.

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Reporting on the resignation of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a BBC reporter referred to the Church of England as a ‘fading institution’. A cursory glance at the statistics from the last few decades surely bears this out. Perhaps we should not be surprised. Over the centuries church institutions have come and gone, not least when they abandon the Biblical authority which gave them birth. But I for one am not unduly concerned.

Following more negative headlines about the church some years ago a wise friend of mine responded by asking ‘Is Jesus still on his throne?’ The answer is emphatically yes! The risen, ascended and glorified Jesus is indeed still on his throne and will one day return to judge the world. When church institutions fail and fade it is time to remind ourselves that Jesus didn’t call people to build an organisation but very simply to follow him and live the life that he revealed.

So, while the Church of England as an institution continues to fail and fade, Jesus as the Lord of heaven and earth will continue to call people to follow him and, in that way, build his church. As the prophet Isaiah reminds us, ‘of the increase of his government there will be no end.’ (Isaiah 9:7)

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Jesus once got lost. At least that’s what his parents thought. They were returning from a festival in Jerusalem to their home in Nazareth and travelling with a large company of family and friends. Mary thought Jesus was with Joseph and he thought he was with her. It took a day to realise that he wasn’t with either of them and another three days of frantic searching before they found him. He was in the temple sitting with the scholars and asking them questions. Relieved and cross Mary and Joseph asked why he had treated them so badly. He calmly replied, ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’

It was a curious answer but indicated that he had understood his divine nature as the Son of God. He wasn’t lost at all but was at home with his Heavenly Father. Years later he would be back in Jerusalem offering his life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world and opening a way so that we could all come home to our Heavenly Father. Because ultimately, we will never be truly at home in this life but only in the life in the come. 

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Jesus told a story about a man who had two sons. One day the younger son demanded his inheritance, in effect telling his father ‘I wish you were dead!’. Surprisingly his father agreed, and the son was soon far from home and splashing the cash on parties for his newfound friends. Before long, however, the cash ran out and so did the friends, leaving the son destitute and wondering what to do now. How could he possibly go home after all he had said and done?

While the details may be different the story is a familiar one. Family breakdown leads to separation, homelessness and poverty with seemingly no way back. Unless someone makes the first move the division becomes permanent.

In the story Jesus told the son eventually heads for home. He’s afraid of what his father will say and has prepared a speech to say how sorry he is. To his surprise however, he discovers that his father has been longing for the day when he would return and welcomes him with open arms.

The story shows us that no matter how broken a relationship may be it can always be restored. It just takes someone to make the first move.

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Many years ago, I volunteered at a night shelter for the homeless in Bristol. One man in particular stayed in my mind. He stood out because he was smartly dressed wearing a jacket and tie and carried a small bag of possessions. Thoughtful and articulate he explained that this was a way of life he had chosen. Unlike most in his position who would love to have a home he had given his up for a life on the road. He spent his days travelling the country from hostel to hostel and included regular visits to see his children and grandchildren.

His was an unusual story and it reminded me of something written in the Bible about Jesus the Son of God. His home was heaven, a place so perfect, holy, and glorious that it is beyond imagination or description. But he chose to leave home and give all of that up so that he could, for a time, make his home with us here on earth. Why on earth would God do such a thing? For the simple reason that he wanted to tell us how much he loved us, and he wanted to do it in person.

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When the USS Enterprise launched in September 1966 ‘to boldy go’ where no one had gone before, it didn’t actually go very far. The idea of exploring the Milky Way was one of pure imagination far beyond the bounds of possibility. Fast forward nearly 60 years and how much has changed. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is now planning for a future where humans live and work in space. In a recent interview the UK’s most famous particle physicist, Prof Brian Cox, predicted that we are set to become a multi-planetary civilisation within his lifetime, with settlements on the moon and Mars.

Hundreds of years ago the psalmist David looked up at those same stars and praised the God who had made them. Overwhelmed by the vast scale of the universe he said, ‘what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?’ It’s interesting to think that while we prepare for life beyond our planet, two thousand years ago the God who made it decided, for a time, to make it his home. As John’s Gospel puts it, ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.’ And why would he do such a thing? To show us he cares for us.

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The premature death of someone we love is one of the hardest griefs to bear. We are left with the haunting and unanswerable question ‘Why?’ It seems so unfair and makes no sense. How could a good God allow such a thing?

A while ago a friend of mine had to grapple with this question following the diagnosis of his terminal illness. His response to the ‘why me?’ question was to ask, ‘why not me?’ and to conclude that in this life we will never know. A better question he said, was to ask where God was. Throughout his illness he was able to see God’s hand in so many different ways from unexpected financial provision, the spontaneous visit of a friend and even somewhere to park near the hospital. As his life recently drew to a close, these signs of God’s presence reassured him that his trust in God was secure and that his hope for eternal life was certain.

My friend’s confidence in God is echoed many times in the Bible and not least in the famous words of Psalm 23:4 ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’

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Growing up in Kentucky Abraham Lincoln witnessed slaves being herded along the highway like cattle. It made a lasting impression on him, and he became convinced that no person should ever be the property of another. But slavery was a fact of life and some 4 million were enslaved at the time of his election as president in 1861. He was determined to use the power he now had to set them free; a resolve that led to civil war. Standing for re-election in 1864 he was under enormous pressure to compromise – the war was going badly, and many voters were nervous of slaves being given their freedom. But Lincoln wouldn’t budge. Although it would cost him his life, he held firm. The war was won and the principle that all were equal under God was established.

It’s a powerful reminder of the dehumanising effect of slavery which goes beyond the owning or trafficking of one individual by another. Jesus once said that we are in fact all slaves, slaves to sin and rebellion against God. It’s this slavery that ultimately leads to the other. Like Lincoln, whom he inspired, Jesus wanted all to be free. It was an issue on which he would not compromise and which, like Lincoln, cost him his life.

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In the mid-nineteenth century the American financial system was facing an existential threat from counterfeit currency. Something had to be done and so the Treasury established a secret service to go after the counterfeiters. But at the turn of the century, it was a threat to democracy itself that galvanised the service into the one we are most familiar with today – on 6th September 1901 President William McKinley was shot and later died from his wounds. Now the service had a more urgent task, to protect the President at all costs even to the extent that agents must put themselves in the line of fire.

So it was that when shots rang out as Donald Trump was making a campaign speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, he was immediately pushed to the ground and swamped with agents. Had more shots followed the initial volley they would have sacrificed their lives to save his.

In a similar way we too once faced an existential threat, not from fake money or an assassin’s bullet, but from the problem of sin which separates us from a holy God. We too needed someone willing to sacrifice themselves for us, and that’s why God sent His Son Jesus. His love poured out for us on the cross covers all our sin.

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