This coming Sunday afternoon, we are going to enjoy a great time of Community Carols. Each year on the last Sunday in November, our school, together with Para Vista Adventist Church, enjoy a great time of fun and carol singing out on one of our play areas. Our students have been practising for this event and the Foundations, Year Ones and Year Twos have also been practising for their Special Persons’ (Grandparents or other special people in their lives) Concert coming up soon, in the room next to my office. Most days I get to hear the young voices singing praise and thanks to God for the gift of Jesus Christ. There is something wonderful about the innocence of children, when singing songs of thanks with all their heart. It got me thinking about how little time I spend reflecting on my blessings and how much time I spend complaining about my circumstances.  If there is one thing Christmas should do for us, it is to turn our perspective from focusing on what we don’t have and turn it to giving thanks for all we have been blessed with, to the point where we want to share that with those around us.

This term in Chapel, we have had the theme song of “Rescuer”. It is a song about how God loves and cares so much for us, that He reaches into our lives and “rescues” us in our walk. Notice I said “in”, not always “from” the things that come along. The story of Christmas is a great illustration of this. The birth of Jesus reminds us that God loves us so much, He was born into human form. God rescued us by joining us “in” this world and experienced things just as we do. What an amazing gift!

How we view things is so important. We could see Christmas as all about the advertising, the hype and commercialisation, or we can see it for what it truly is, a reminder of the wonderful grace of God in the form of the Gift of Jesus.

Have a great week with your kids and I would love to see you at Carols,

Mark B