WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.120 Please take your seats and do turn to the readings that were from Luke's Gospel, chapter 2, pages 7 and 9. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:12.320 That's where we're going to be these few minutes this evening. 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:18.500 Well, I need to begin by telling you that I went down the rabbit hole this week with Christmas adverts. 00:00:19.740 --> 00:00:25.199 It started with John Lewis, then Liddle, then Waitrose. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:34.719 And as I clicked over to Sainsbury's, momentum was beginning to gather, and so Morrisons and M&S followed pretty quickly with great ease. 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:42.179 Then I discovered top 10 Christmas adverts of 2023 on YouTube. 00:00:43.060 --> 00:00:47.879 And I got stuck on the Swiss online pharmacy chain, Doc Morris. 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:52.299 If you haven't seen it, you need to see it. It's a beautiful advert. 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:54.820 As adverts go, it's right up there. 00:00:56.040 --> 00:00:58.200 Now, I don't know if you've seen the ads this Christmas. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:00.120 We've got a Venus flytrap. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:01.700 We've got Graham Norton. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:03.200 We've got singing oven gloves. 00:01:03.800 --> 00:01:05.280 We've got the woman from Ted Lasso. 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:06.100 She's on there. 00:01:06.420 --> 00:01:10.540 And we've got Sophie Ellis Baxter blowtorching her Christmas cards. 00:01:11.100 --> 00:01:12.379 There's a lot to take in. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:14.900 But one thing is clear. 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:22.620 When you look across all the adverts, we're confused about the meaning of Christmas. 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:28.700 For Sainsbury's and Morrisons and Liddle and Waitrose, it's all about the food. 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:31.719 Christmas is about the food. 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:33.300 The Waitrose strap line. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:35.980 When the food's good, everything's good. 00:01:35.980 --> 00:01:41.880 For John Lewis, well, it's a bit trickier to understand what's going on there. 00:01:42.659 --> 00:01:48.579 It seems to me the Christmas advert with John Lewis is if you plant a grow-your-own-Christmas-tree seed 00:01:48.579 --> 00:01:56.079 that grows into a Venus flytrap that terrorizes the family so that it has to be pulled out into the garden. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:01.840 But you then bring your present out into the garden and the Venus flytrap menacingly eats those presents 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:05.819 and then spits them out unwrapped, you'll have a wonderful Christmas. 00:02:05.819 --> 00:02:08.680 Then the strap line. 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:11.620 Let your traditions grow. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:18.599 I don't know about you, but Venus flytraps have nothing to do with tradition around Christmas in my house. 00:02:19.739 --> 00:02:20.900 What about Marks and Spencers? 00:02:21.359 --> 00:02:23.959 What's the essence of Christmas for Marks and Spencers? 00:02:24.079 --> 00:02:24.799 Well, here it is. 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:26.939 You do you. 00:02:26.939 --> 00:02:37.319 Here's their message. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:37.960 Quote, 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:42.340 This Christmas, do only what you love. 00:02:44.620 --> 00:02:46.079 The messages are mixed. 00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:53.979 But I think that reflects a confusion that we all have at some level when it comes to this time of year. 00:02:54.079 --> 00:02:55.919 What is the point of Christmas? 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:57.039 Is it tradition? 00:02:57.519 --> 00:02:58.399 Is it the food? 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:00.199 Is it all about you? 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:01.259 Or something else? 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:05.819 We know there's something about a baby in a manger in there somewhere, but we don't really know. 00:03:06.619 --> 00:03:12.000 So what invariably happens is the season rolls around every year and we go through the motions. 00:03:12.459 --> 00:03:13.739 Sometimes it's great. 00:03:14.579 --> 00:03:15.699 Sometimes it's grim. 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:21.459 But we get to January and we're not really sure why we went to all the trouble. 00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:29.260 Well, this evening I want to go back to the first Christmas to try and do something to clear some of this confusion. 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:33.400 So if we can turn back to those accounts from Luke chapter 2, page 7. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:34.640 First of all, we'll go there. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:38.139 I want to make three observations about what we're told here. 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:42.739 And these observations will clarify what Christmas is all about, really. 00:03:43.139 --> 00:03:50.619 And not only will they do that, but they will show us how if we can grasp the real meaning of Christmas, 00:03:51.699 --> 00:03:54.959 Christmas actually has the power to transform your whole life. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:01.760 Christmas has the power to charge every day of your life with meaning and hope and joy. 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:04.740 So here's the first observation to note. 00:04:05.860 --> 00:04:07.640 Christmas is real. 00:04:08.659 --> 00:04:09.800 Christmas is real. 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:17.319 Did you see in that first reading from Luke chapter 2 how Luke records times and places and everyday details? 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:18.319 Verse 1, 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:24.480 And in those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:28.459 This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:31.319 And everyone went to his own town to register. 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:35.920 Mary and Joseph are responding to state bureaucracy. 00:04:36.539 --> 00:04:37.899 They're registering in a census. 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:39.819 And it's a specific census. 00:04:40.019 --> 00:04:43.300 Luke would have us know it was the first one under Quirinius. 00:04:43.300 --> 00:04:46.259 Luke is saying, listen, check the public record office. 00:04:46.259 --> 00:04:48.060 Then verse 7, 00:04:48.599 --> 00:04:50.000 The inn where the baby was born. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:50.920 There was an inn. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:52.060 It's a real place. 00:04:52.139 --> 00:04:53.000 It had a postcode. 00:04:53.740 --> 00:04:54.639 We're going to go to verse 8. 00:04:54.699 --> 00:04:56.379 On page 9, the shepherds, what are they doing? 00:04:56.459 --> 00:04:57.120 They're shepherding. 00:04:57.339 --> 00:04:58.899 They're doing what shepherds do. 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:04.920 It's become common to say that the Bible stories are myths. 00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:07.360 But this doesn't read like a myth. 00:05:07.860 --> 00:05:10.759 It's all too ordinary to be a myth. 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:12.439 C.S. Lewis says this, 00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:18.019 I have been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends and myths all my life. 00:05:18.459 --> 00:05:20.199 I know none of them are like this. 00:05:20.899 --> 00:05:24.019 Of this text, there are only two possible views. 00:05:24.620 --> 00:05:28.459 Either this is reportage, either this is recording what actually happened, 00:05:28.779 --> 00:05:32.779 or else some unknown writer without known predecessors or successors 00:05:32.779 --> 00:05:37.360 suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern novelistic realistic narrative. 00:05:38.139 --> 00:05:38.560 End quote. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:41.280 What Lewis is saying is, this is historical record. 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:44.360 If you were to read chapter 1 of Luke's gospel, he says that himself. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.079 He says he is writing an eyewitness account of the things that happened. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:52.600 These are real people in real places. 00:05:53.939 --> 00:05:57.199 Now, that's one of the problems that we have with the Christmas adverts, isn't it? 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.060 Because we know that they aren't real. 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:02.600 They are sentimental and lovely and feel good. 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:07.600 But we know that Graham Norton isn't going to turn up at our house with some waitrose food 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:08.840 and a big smile on his face. 00:06:09.580 --> 00:06:13.120 And what's more, we know that if he did, it wouldn't change our lives one bit. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:21.640 If Christmas is just tradition for its own sake, then we're wasting our time. 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:23.840 We're wasting our time. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:27.140 All the good wishes are empty because they're based on nothing. 00:06:27.139 --> 00:06:34.699 But the birth of Jesus has the power to change your life because these things actually happened in history. 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:37.639 First thing to see is Christmas is real. 00:06:37.740 --> 00:06:38.919 Here's the second observation. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:41.339 Turn over the page to page 9. 00:06:42.180 --> 00:06:44.060 Christmas is scary. 00:06:45.579 --> 00:06:46.439 It's scary. 00:06:47.979 --> 00:06:49.139 You think to yourself, 00:06:49.539 --> 00:06:51.879 what could be scary about Christmas? 00:06:51.979 --> 00:06:55.419 Apart from perhaps some of these Christmas jumpers I see around, they're pretty frightening. 00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:58.460 Look at verse 8. 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:03.620 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 00:07:04.340 --> 00:07:07.840 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:10.020 and they were terrified. 00:07:12.520 --> 00:07:16.000 Shepherds, we need to understand this, shepherds spend their whole lives outside. 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:18.220 They sleep on the hills. 00:07:18.340 --> 00:07:22.259 They go toe-to-toe with wild animals in order to protect their flock. 00:07:22.259 --> 00:07:25.680 Look, they're out there all times, all seasons. 00:07:26.180 --> 00:07:27.420 They are hardy men. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:28.319 They're tough. 00:07:28.420 --> 00:07:29.579 They're not easily scared. 00:07:29.699 --> 00:07:33.939 But what we see in verse 9, what they see in verse 9 is, is terrifying to them. 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:35.279 And why is that? 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:37.259 Well, it's obvious, isn't it? 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:37.819 It's obvious. 00:07:38.339 --> 00:07:39.159 They see an angel. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:41.680 You've been to the nativity. 00:07:42.420 --> 00:07:43.500 The sheep, the wings. 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:45.099 Angels are terrifying, right? 00:07:46.099 --> 00:07:46.659 No, what? 00:07:47.139 --> 00:07:47.639 Do they really? 00:07:47.699 --> 00:07:48.379 Have a look. 00:07:48.379 --> 00:07:49.379 Look again at verse 9. 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:53.480 They are terrified because they saw the glory of the Lord. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:59.480 That is, they glimpse the one who stands at the center of the universe. 00:07:59.939 --> 00:08:04.060 The one who stands at the very heart of reality. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:07.819 Can you imagine what that would be like? 00:08:08.719 --> 00:08:11.879 Do you ever come across something that simply stops you in your tracks? 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:17.839 A landscape so vast that it takes your breath away. 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:23.339 A moment of athletic brilliance that leaves you just, oh, open-mouthed when you see it. 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:31.540 Hearing a piece of music so beautiful or reading a poem so moving that the experience actually changes you. 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:34.179 Why do you feel that way? 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:36.759 Why do you feel that way? 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:39.200 Could it be because the world is enchanted? 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:44.460 It is more than mere time and matter, motion and chance. 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:49.920 Could it be that there is a reality that is greater than you and is higher than the sky? 00:08:52.660 --> 00:08:56.580 What we see here is that it is that deeper reality that the shepherds saw. 00:08:56.680 --> 00:09:02.060 They saw the source of all the grandeur and all the beauty in the universe. 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:03.520 They saw the glory of the Lord. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:10.159 One of the biggest mistakes I think we can make at this time of year is that we sentimentalize Christmas. 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:16.620 There is nothing sentimental about the one who stands behind this world of beauty and meaning and love. 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:18.740 No wonder the shepherds were terrified. 00:09:18.740 --> 00:09:29.320 When we see brilliance, whether it's physical performance or remarkable intellect or something like that, it's intimidating to us. 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:36.240 When we witness brilliance or we get close in some way to brilliance, we feel our inadequacy and we want to withdraw. 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:37.440 We want to shrink back. 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:41.379 That is exactly what happens here with the shepherds. 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:48.200 Now, it's not because they saw their inadequacy besides someone who was physically or intellectually better than them, 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:53.259 but because they are confronted with the perfection of a holy God. 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:58.220 See, the reason for their fear is moral. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:08.320 In the presence of divine glory, they see themselves as they truly are, as sinful men before a holy God. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:12.440 In fact, that is why we all keep God at a distance. 00:10:13.860 --> 00:10:17.920 We keep God at a distance because we're flawed and we know that we're flawed. 00:10:18.020 --> 00:10:20.400 We know that we don't work as we should. 00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:23.220 We're not right in ourselves. 00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:24.260 We're sinful. 00:10:24.980 --> 00:10:26.300 And we don't want to be exposed. 00:10:27.040 --> 00:10:28.140 So we avoid Him. 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.000 Sometimes we avoid Him with high-sounding philosophy. 00:10:31.560 --> 00:10:36.180 Usually, though, we avoid Him with reasons that amount to us being able to do what we want to do. 00:10:36.179 --> 00:10:39.059 Now, that's a problem. 00:10:41.419 --> 00:10:45.739 But it's that problem that Christmas has come to deal with. 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:50.879 That problem is precisely why we need Christmas. 00:10:51.719 --> 00:10:54.279 See, you hear the word sin, and you think, 00:10:54.719 --> 00:10:56.719 well, that sounds like an obscure religious word. 00:10:56.739 --> 00:10:57.879 I don't like the sound of that. 00:10:58.039 --> 00:10:59.719 It doesn't resonate with me. 00:10:59.959 --> 00:11:02.719 But sin is simply self-government. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:06.040 That's a very brief definition of sin, self-government. 00:11:06.139 --> 00:11:09.360 It is living life on our terms in God's world. 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:13.820 And let's be honest, there's nothing obscure in our experience about that. 00:11:14.259 --> 00:11:15.320 We know it very well. 00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:16.800 We know it because we see it in the mirror. 00:11:17.899 --> 00:11:20.040 Living life on our terms in God's world. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:25.379 In fact, it's that desire in all of us that the Marks and Spencers advert is appealing to. 00:11:25.379 --> 00:11:31.580 No more lofty source than the Daily Mail said this about the M&S advert. 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:31.919 Quote, 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:35.879 M&S appears to be encouraging shoppers to do what they want this Christmas. 00:11:37.299 --> 00:11:44.320 Using a starry lineup, the M&S missive for 2023 is to put yourself and your own needs first. 00:11:45.340 --> 00:11:47.019 That is the definition of sin. 00:11:47.019 --> 00:11:52.919 M&S have identified the root of all of our problems in the world. 00:11:53.939 --> 00:11:57.279 But rather than giving us a solution, they want us to lean in. 00:11:57.340 --> 00:12:01.620 They actually want us to embrace the very reason why we are scared in the presence of God. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:06.059 I want to suggest to you that there is a better option. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:10.539 And here we need to make our third observation. 00:12:11.439 --> 00:12:14.139 See, by the end of the story, verse 17, can you see? 00:12:14.139 --> 00:12:16.159 The shepherds have moved on from their fear. 00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:20.240 They've moved on from talking about angels or the glory of the Lord. 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:25.960 They are talking instead about, you see, this child who has been born. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:31.299 Why does this child eclipse this incredible and terrifying moment? 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:35.679 Well, it's because in the end, our third observation, Christmas is good. 00:12:36.819 --> 00:12:40.100 It's real, it's scary, and it's good. 00:12:40.100 --> 00:12:44.720 We have rejected God and His world, and He comes into this world at Christmas. 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:47.100 Surely we're going to be in trouble if that's the case. 00:12:47.180 --> 00:12:49.240 But listen to the angel, verse 10. 00:12:50.259 --> 00:12:51.220 The angel said to them, 00:12:51.740 --> 00:12:52.940 Do not be afraid. 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:57.180 I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 00:12:58.019 --> 00:12:58.879 Isn't that remarkable? 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:02.100 The people who fear… 00:13:03.220 --> 00:13:04.360 He comes and he says, 00:13:04.460 --> 00:13:06.460 To people who fear being exposed. 00:13:06.460 --> 00:13:09.780 The Christmas message is do not fear. 00:13:11.920 --> 00:13:12.940 How is this possible? 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.840 Well, the good news and the great joy is because, verse 11, 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:19.879 Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.280 He is Christ the Lord. 00:13:23.560 --> 00:13:28.460 This baby, swaddled in the manger, is the long-promised Savior. 00:13:28.680 --> 00:13:33.400 The one that those Old Testament passages that were read for us earlier in the service was pointing to. 00:13:33.540 --> 00:13:35.040 He is the Christ, the promised one. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:36.199 He is the Lord. 00:13:37.019 --> 00:13:38.500 He is God Himself. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:41.399 In the greatest love this world has ever known, 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:45.439 Coming to our world in all of its brokenness, to put it right. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:50.959 Christmas is good because it tells us that God has come to fix His world. 00:13:53.019 --> 00:13:55.240 But more than that, He has come to fix us. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:59.000 To forgive us for the way that we've treated Him, 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:01.199 And the way that we've treated others. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:08.620 He came to wipe the slate clean and to save us from the selfish M&S vision of life. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:12.020 The last thing we need is more selfishness at Christmas. 00:14:12.500 --> 00:14:17.100 Rather, we need to see that Christmas is the very thing that deals with our selfishness. 00:14:18.300 --> 00:14:20.100 Because it is about the birth of a Savior. 00:14:20.100 --> 00:14:25.360 Jesus was born at Christmas on a rescue mission. 00:14:27.060 --> 00:14:33.420 I turned 50 this year, and a few months ago, some old friends arranged a weekend, and we went away. 00:14:33.500 --> 00:14:39.500 And we did something called coasteering, which 20-something years ago was great fun and very easy. 00:14:40.040 --> 00:14:41.460 We had a lot of fun doing it. 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:42.360 Not so much now. 00:14:42.360 --> 00:14:48.139 One of my friends, when we were up on the coast in Northern Ireland, he was leading the way, and he said, 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:54.639 Right, you jump in here, and the waves will wash you up here, and you just get out on the rocks here. 00:14:55.220 --> 00:14:56.700 And I went, Cool, no problem. 00:14:56.980 --> 00:15:00.120 And I jumped in here, but the waves didn't bring me here. 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:02.539 They sucked me under and drew me out. 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:05.879 I was in trouble. 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:13.539 I was very scared until, out of nowhere, one of the boys appeared, and he pulled me to the side, 00:15:13.860 --> 00:15:15.139 and we climbed out somewhere else. 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:16.159 And I'm here to tell the tale. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:17.840 I was in need. 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:19.200 I was scared. 00:15:19.639 --> 00:15:20.600 And he rescued me. 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:24.639 I can tell you that brought me great joy. 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:27.659 That was good news, seeing him pulling me over. 00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:29.220 Good news of great joy. 00:15:29.740 --> 00:15:34.080 This is what Christmas is about on a grand scale for your life. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:41.580 The one in the manger has come, and he's come to live in order to live the life that we should have lived but didn't, 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:44.860 die the death that we deserved on the cross on Good Friday, 00:15:45.040 --> 00:15:49.060 and rise again to save any and all who will trust in him. 00:15:49.060 --> 00:15:50.200 Did you see that verse 10? 00:15:50.460 --> 00:15:52.139 The Savior is good news of great joy. 00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:53.040 Do you see who it's for? 00:15:53.160 --> 00:15:54.100 All the people. 00:15:55.259 --> 00:15:57.360 No one who comes is refused entry. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:04.000 Whoever you are, wherever you're from, whatever stories your past could tell, 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:07.159 those things that you are scared to bring to God, 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:10.980 if you turn to him, and you can do it now in your seat, 00:16:11.740 --> 00:16:16.480 if you turn to him, he will forgive you at all, and he'll welcome you. 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:19.860 Victor Hugo said, 00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:34.700 So the question is, can you see the goodness? 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:37.340 Can you see that for yourself? 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:39.060 Well, here's the test. 00:16:39.580 --> 00:16:41.659 If you believe that Christmas is real, 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:44.200 and if you know that you're keeping God at a distance, 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:49.700 if you do not see the coming of Christ as good news of great joy, 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:52.800 you haven't really grasped what's going on. 00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:57.700 If you're not thinking, wow, this is good news of great joy, 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:58.720 you haven't grasped it. 00:17:00.680 --> 00:17:02.060 And I want to say, if that's you, 00:17:02.180 --> 00:17:06.100 I want to invite you to come back in January to explore further. 00:17:06.220 --> 00:17:08.480 We're running a thing called Hope Explored. 00:17:08.740 --> 00:17:10.400 These flyers are on the seats. 00:17:11.500 --> 00:17:12.480 Bring your questions. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:14.839 That's what this is for. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:19.500 It's three nights on the 10th, 17th, and the 24th. 00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:20.480 The date's wrong, the 24th. 00:17:21.299 --> 00:17:22.779 Three Wednesday evenings. 00:17:23.140 --> 00:17:23.860 Bring your questions. 00:17:24.819 --> 00:17:28.960 Don't stop this year at tradition, or food, or even yourself. 00:17:29.460 --> 00:17:32.500 Get to grips with the Christ at the heart of Christmas, 00:17:32.579 --> 00:17:33.759 because, because, 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.319 he really is the only one whose love can transform 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:40.339 not only your Christmas season, 00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:42.440 but your whole life. 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.059 00:17:43.059 --> 00:18:13.039 Thank you.