Christmas is a fabulous event!! I mean the REAL Christmas!! Christmas is God's response to a problem. The reason why we exist is God's love for us. When you love someone ? you want their company. God's the same. God wants our company.

It would appear that we weren't making many moves to God, so God made the move. That's what Christmas is all about. Thank God for that!!

When we consider that much of what most people do ? day in and day out ? is pretty routine monotonous.

People work. They come home have their meal and as often as not they eat it in front of the television - all at different times, so that there's no special "family time". Not much company there! At evenings and at weekends they often watch more TV or play a sport or hobby. Not necessarily much time to consider God there either!

"Harmless" we say, but it can deaden the human spirit. I think if that's what we settle for, we are settling for less than we ought to be, and less than we want to be!

People need some "big idea". What we need is some inspiration to expand our spirits and to enrich the quality of our lives.

That's what Christmas is all about!! It's a monumental idea.

It's more than that, because what the Bible speaks of is that God - Wonderful, Stupendous, Creative, Eternal, Infinite, Inexhaustible, Loving God - comes in Jesus to be amongst ordinary people like you and me.

In the very existence of Jesus, God comes into our daily life to say "I'm with you"; "I am there for you"; "I will never see you on your own"; "You can trust me with your life".

What a magnificent idea! Being overly anxious about Christmas Cards and Christmas presents and all the rush of Christmas is by comparison so trivial. The commercial and materialist world wants us to focus our lives on such things at Christmas. Let's not be fooled ? there is no big idea down that road!

God in Jesus has better things in store for us than all of that.

I can say that with confidence, because God gave His Word on it!

God bless you and your family and friends.

On behalf of Christ Church Warwick, I take this opportunity to wish the people of Bermuda a Happy Christmas.

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Rev. T. Alan W. Garrity