Home

Our Church

Services of Worship

Getting Married at Holy Trinity

Youth

Sermons

Prayer

Education

St. Augustine's

Anglican FAQs

Inspiration

Links

A short while ago we were needing a trailer  here at the church, to cart away a whole lot of garden refuse after a big tidy up of the Garden of Remembrance.

At this busy time of year, no one seemed to have much energy for the problem, so we had to rack our brains for the solution.

You understand that all this was going on during the week after the Christmas Parade and leading into the Christmas Pageant etc.

Various people put their minds to the problem, and worried it, and scanned their brains for a solution.

In the midst of all of this, I shot an arrow prayer up, 

‘Lord please help us, we really need a trailer’.

 Silence from above.

Eventually, a number of options were presented but all required going to someone’s house and picking up a key and co-ordination exercises that no one seemed to have much time for.

I went home at the end of the day, with the problem unresolved, however that night I woke up in the early hours of the morning and it suddenly hit me….

Of course, the solution was simple, we had a trailer.

We still had the huge trailer we had borrowed from Penny Slack sitting just outside my office door. Would you believe it, all of us had been walking past this trailer as we searched our minds for the solution to our problem! How daft of me not to see the trailer sitting right under my nose so to speak! What a blind spot!

I’d almost tripped over the trailer as I agonized over where we might get a trailer to cart away the garden refuse.

This got me thinking.

Isn’t it so often just the way.

You have a need that you are trying to meet or a problem that you are trying to solve.

You think that God is either not able to meet your need or that perhaps he is too busy or distant to care about it.

Perhaps you pray about it, but as far as you can tell, nothing seems to be happening,

there is just silence from God.

And then one day, for whatever reason, you discover that all along the answer to your prayers has been right under your nose. God has indeed answered your prayers and you did not even notice!

What can I say?

How ironic, God has answered our prayers and we are too pre-occupied or skeptical or busy, to notice.

So we learn that God doesn’t always come with a hiss and a roar.

Mostly he comes quietly and gently and unobtrusively into our lives bringing healing and hope and life.

His most life-giving answers are frequently as gentle as the breath you take every 2 seconds of your life!

So it should come as no surprise to read the nativity story and discover that when the Son came as the Messiah, most of the world apart from a few curious shepherds were completely oblivious to this world shattering event.

Jesus, the long awaited Messiah came humbly and unobtrusively, to a poor family living in some far flung corner of civilization and  right out of the limelight.

Now this is important news, for it tells us something of how God works and it let’s us into the secret, of how to find God in the midst of our daily lives.

Still today the story teaches that if we are to see God at work and alive in our midst,

then we must open our spiritual eyes and search out his handiwork in the mundane and everyday issues and circumstances we are encountering.

We need to be spiritually sensitive enough to notice the events and people right under our noses and to see God at work in those events and through those people.

For example
When you think that no one loves you,
don’t forget to notice the handmade Christmas card your child crafted especially for you  with  love and care,

When you think you are poor and don’t have as much wealth as others do,
don’t forget to notice the beauty of Mount Victoria as you leave this place, or the beach you are able to walk on this afternoon after your Christmas meal,

When you miss a loved one who has died,
don’t forget to recall some of the wonderful memories that  you have and that no one can take away from you,

When you think that you are not important or you feel unworthy and have low self esteem, remember that God loves you and values you so much that he sent his only son that you might enjoy eternal life in all its abundance with him.

This Christmas may I encourage you to take note of the nativity story and use it as a metaphor for your spiritual life.

Glean from it the way in which God works.

See how God comes into our lives gently as a baby with great humility and vulnerability.

Then with this pattern of humility, gentleness and understatement in mind, open your spiritual eyes and notice the incarnation of his son in your life on a daily basis.

See the answered prayers and the undeserved grace  at every turn in your day

and notice his providence poured out upon you and those you love.

And as you do so may this revelation afford you a happy Christmas and a spiritually rewarding new year.

Amen.

Download this sermon in MS-Word format