By Thorsten Prill serving in Edinburgh, Scotland
‘But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he in the Messiah, the Lord'” Luke 2:10-11
In Namibia, Christmas is a time of long and stressful journeys from the sticky capital of Windhoek to the cooler coast. It’s a time of queuing in front of restaurants and cash machines in places like Swakopmund or Oshakati. For Namibian supermarket employees, it’s a time of wearing oddly shaped woollen red hats and listening to I’m Dreaming of A White Christmas on repeat while it is 35 degrees outside. For others, Christmas is a time of heated discussions, excessive drinking and fights with family members.
But Christmas is also a time of good news. 2,000 years ago, the angel of the Lord spoke to shepherds on a hillside outside Bethlehem. ‘Do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’
What was this good news? Not that God had sent a politician, a soldier or an activist – what our world so often looks to in a crisis. God had sent a saviour.
In the man Jesus, God himself, the creator and ruler of the universe came down into our world to show us what he is like: a God of love and forgiveness, our almighty King and our friend. Jesus was born as a human so that you and I would believe that God knows our struggles and pains and so that he could die on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins. This is the good, good news of Christmas: the Son was born to die as our saviour and to conquer death.
Join us in praying that many people would hear and believe the good news of Christmas this year.