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Today knowledge can feel just 2 clicks away on Google. But is that knowledge, information, what Peter meant? Sometimes it can feel like it is, and those who have this knowledge can feel superior to everyone else. That’s dangerous. But what if Peter meant there was a different way of growing in knowledge? What if it was about a growing relationship – both with God and others. What does it take to get that sort of knowledge?

Goodness can sound soft and prissy. No one wants to be called a goody-two shoes. Unless you have faced the opposite and been the victim of evil. Goodness is the authentic integrity that is creative and trustworthy. It may not be glamorous but it makes all the difference in the world.

I believe lots of things that make no real difference to my day to day life. New Testament faith is different. It was never a static acceptance but trust in a person who transformed everything. Faith was dynamic. And it was the bedrock for everything else that would be possible…

Why did Paul send Onesimus back? Was he encouraging slavery? How do we read the New Testament on these issues when we hold to different views of what is right?

Let’s not fool ourselves: forgiveness always costs something. Always did, always will. Relationships will occasionally rupture. Forgiveness is the way they can be repaired. How do we do this?

Faith in Jesus means nothing if you don’t love Jesus’ friends. And love means nothing if it isn’t accompanied by action. It’s what we do, not what we say.

This church lived at a time when everyone knew their place. Rank mattered and brought privileges. If you were at the top of the pile you could order people around. Paul modelled a different way. He chose to appeal rather than to order. He demonstrated how we subvert the natural hierarchies.

As we learn one another’s names and enter one another’s stories, we are given the opportunity to grow more than we might ever have imagined…

The angels met shepherds and told them that peace had come to earth. Foreign wise men made an epic journey to see the new king. The poorest and the richest knew that things needed to change. It's our joy to be able to say: change can happen. There is something new to be experienced. Now that's good news at Christmas time.

The world can seem quite dark but there is a light that gives us hope, and that can shine the way home for others. Christmas reminds us that God became like us. He got tired, hungry, thirsty, and could be injured. We know how all that feels. But we are waiting for the day when this is a memory, on the day we step into eternity. So what will it be like when we die? Is it worth waiting for?

Christmas is coming. And we will celebrate God coming as a baby. But there is a bigger story. There’s more than a manger. There will be a day when Jesus will return, and the earth will be fully restored to all that God intended. It’s a beautiful hope to be reminded of at Christmas time.

When hope goes, we die. Zechariah wanted the people to know that they had a future that would be good. That hope is really important when we face hard times.