The “ho ho ho’s” sound out from the High Street Stores and Shopping Malls proclaiming the presence of the fat gentleman in the red suit. He seems to arrive earlier each year having got himself mixed up with “Black Friday” this week.

Perhaps this is not inappropriate as the Bishop of Myra (today’s Demre in S-W Turkey) could well have been black. He was famed for his generosity to the poor. One legend has it that he dropped a purse of gold coins down the chimney of a poor man who had nothing to give for his daughter’s wedding dowry.

This may have something to do with the answer to the question, “Why does Father Christmas always go down the chimney?” “Because it soots him!” Sorry about that!

The feast of St Nicholas on 6^th December 343 AD is the reason the Netherlands celebrate Sinterklaas annually on that day.

St Nicholas is well known in many parts of Europe and is the patron Saint of cities from Amsterdam to Aberdeen, Limerick to Liverpool and many more.

So what was it that made Santa Claus turn pale? Could it have something to do with the famous painting by the distinguished American artist Norman Rockwell? Commissioned by Coca-Cola the rotund jolly fat figure is portrayed in the company’s colours of red and white. No doubt the marketing men had a say in making his skin white – business trumps legend!

Of course when it comes down to filling stockings on the 24^th December the age old criteria comes into play. Was Johnnie a good boy? Did Mary behave herself? The works = merit programme comes flying into their young lives on the back of reindeers pulling a load of goodies which are not destined for baddies!

It is all parcelled up to coincide with the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus whose life on earth was spent dispelling the myth that surrounds the Santa business.

When someone called Jesus good, he who alone merited that description said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (St Mark Chapter 10 verse 18).

This is why he came. As the Angel said at his birth, “She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give him the name Jesus (the name means saviour) because he will save his people from their sins” (St Matthew Chapter 1 verse 21).

It is not by Johnnie trying a bit harder to get better behaved. It is not by Mary trying to keep the commandments and lead a good life. But it is by both Johnnie and Mary stopping the fruitless efforts at trying to be good and trusting Jesus work on the cross when he exchanged our sins for his goodness which he now attributes to the believer.

So when Johnnie and Mary hang up their stockings this year it will be in the knowledge that they couldn’t be more loved or more secure than belonging to the family of God. The gifts they get remind them of the greatest gift of all, God’s gift of Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (St John’s Gospel Chapter 3 verse 16).

Jesus trumps Santa every time – trust Him.

Who would have thought that the reading of the Shema by a bunch of Baptists this week would have led to a discussion on the nature of love and the influences on it exercised by heart and head. The passage reads: –

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts… (Deuteronomy Chapter 6 verses 4-6).

Love is never in a vacuum – it always has an object. Here the love is to be directed to God. The collective powers of heart, soul and strength are to be engaged making this love the paramount affection in our lives. In Luke’s account of Jesus’s conversation with a lawyer the mind is added to heart, soul and strength (Chapter 10 verse 27).

This formed the basis of our discussion, loving with the heart (the seat of our emotions) and loving with the head (a cerebral approach).

The former was hard for some of us to get our head around! This, it was suggested, was because we did not make time for reflection. We needed to get down and meditate. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46 verse 10) came to mind.

For others the story of the busy Pastor who signed up for a time management course only to find that he couldn’t make it and had to send his assistant, better expressed their reality!

When someone comes to faith in Christ there is a transformation which works out in behavioural changes. St James says what we now do demonstrates our faith.

In a similar way our love for God becomes visible in the keeping of his commandments. Indeed the Shema goes on to spell it out in Deuteronomy and Jesus made it the yardstick whereby we could see the reality (or otherwise) of our professed love for God (St John Chapter 14 verse 15). In fact some would say that in introducing the 11^th Commandment (St John Chapter 13 verse 34) Jesus makes our love for others the litmus test of our love for God.

Whether the inclination of our love is from the heart or the head the force of the text requires us to focus all our faculties on loving God.

At its best our love will always be a puny affair when compared with God’s love for us.

St John defines and illustrates God’s love for us in his 1^st letter,
“This is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The response of those awakened by such love must be in surrender and worship.

May we echo the words of the hymnwriter “Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee.

It made it, with a few adventures along the way and arrived this Wednesday, at Comet 67P, on schedule 10 years later. It carried its Lander called Philae, less elegantly described by the press as resembling a dishwasher, and released it to land on its predetermined spot on the Comet. A good shot considering the target was 316 million miles away!

This Comet which is 2.5 miles wide is a ball of rock, dust and ice. It is reckoned to be part of the debris which got dislodged with the various big bangs that made our universe. It presented difficult terrain to land on which is why Philae was equipped with three harpoons that were supposed to be fired into the surface of the Comet. Not only were they intended to anchor the Lander but they were designed to take the ground temperature and measure the density of the surface.

Despite the landing being gentle two of the harpoons failed to fire and Philae did three flops and two bounces (there is very little gravity) landing 0-5 of a mile from the target area. The main problem with this new location is that it is in the shade. Instead of getting 7 hours sunlight to recharge its batteries it now only gets 1.5 hours. This drastically reduces its ability to transmit data to the control centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

Like the original Egyptian Rosetta stone which had three languages written on it, Philae carries a “Rosetta Disc” inscribed with 13,000 pages of text in 1,200 different languages. I am not sure who they expect will read the material but you have to admit that these Germans are thorough!

The main reason for the €1.4 billion flight is to check for water. Science has given us various theories as to how the earth and living things came about but so far their collective imagination has been unable to account for all our water. Perhaps Comets were the ancient water carriers. What if loads of them bombarded our planet each depositing its water supply? OK you need faith to believe that one but if the alternative is to believe God’s account of creation (see Genesis Chapter 1 verses 2, 6 & 9 for water) then it presents an appalling vista for the atheist – the possibly the Biblical record is true.

Many recoil from this thought, carrying as it does accountability for what we do and judgement using Biblical standards. They invent a creator who having put things in place has gone away leaving us to our own devices.

Scripture does not give us that option. We have a “hands on” God. Referring to Jesus the writer to the Hebrews says “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Chapter 1 verse 3).

On the question of accountability Jesus said that on Judgement Day people will have to give an account even for every careless word spoken (St Matthew Chapter 12 verse 36).

The Bible was never meant to be read then recoil from it but to read and recognise that we need a saviour, one to be our advocate at the bar of God. As St John puts it “if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1John Chapter 2 verse 1). Commit your ways to Him.

‘Water, water, everywhere and all the boards did shrink,

Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink!’

These words from Coleridge’s poem “The Ancient Mariner” come to mind when glancing through the headlines of our news this week. It’s been all about water.

We were not on board a ship on Thursday night but coming home in the car through the torrential rain certainly resembled it! “Local flooding” was what the weather man promised us and that is what we got.

It is against this background that the government has been trying vainly to introduce a water tax. In an effort to make it more palatable for some people it attempted to cap the amount payable according to the number and make up of each household. A fruitless task as it turned out which pleased no-one. Meanwhile the installation of water meters continues.

The countrywide network of pipes is known to leak up to 40% of its water and now with meters we know where the leaks are. Perhaps someone may fix them. Meantime the system continues to haemorrhage and the meters clock up the cost for which the householder is considered to be liable.

This has brought a normally passive people onto the streets in protest and provided those in opposition with a watertight case for change! Insult was added to injury when it was learned that those responsible were allocating bonuses to themselves – reminiscent of the Celtic Tiger days when builders got a bonus for simply showing up!

My Missionary friend in Bahrain used to ask enviously “Is Ireland still a rainy place?”

This is a timely reminder that for millions of people water is a precious commodity for sustaining life. It was this aspect that Jesus imbued with a spiritual meaning when he told the woman at the well of Samaria that he could give her “living water”.

She got the idea half right when she realised there would be no need to receive this water a second time but she imagined that it was H2O and not a euphemism for the Holy Spirit (St John’s Gospel Chapter 4 verses 10/14).

However before their conversation ended she recognised Jesus was the Christ, went back and told the town. Many townsfolk went to the well and persuaded Jesus to stay with them which he did for two days. During this time many more believed in him.

Jesus offers “living water” to all who are thirsty with a thirst which nothing in this world can quench.

Like our water system, which is not working, man made remedies to cure the thirsty soul will not provide a permanent solution. Come to Jesus who said, “The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (Verse 14).

But how? The same way now as it was then – ask Jesus (in prayer) and he will give you the “living water”.

For those of you who thought a selfie was the local name for the Atlantic Seal its not! What is occupying young peoples attention on their cell phones is themselves! Or rather a picture of themselves which they judge to be sufficiently attractive to merit posting on a social network.

Never since Narcissus the hunter, who was famous for his good looks, caught sight of his own reflection in a pool and fell in love with it have we had such widespread fascination with the human form. Of course legend has it that Narcissus loved not wisely but too well and fell into the pool and drowned!

It must be said that the main purpose of the selfie would appear to be to impress those who view the image rather that have its creator spellbound by it. In the contest for recognition in a world where image is all, the more attention grabbing, the more likely the picture will receive the accolade of “like” from the fans.

It is little wonder in such competitive circumstances that pictures would become progressively more daring till we had publicity hungry film stars “accidentally” launching photos of themselves in the nip. The ensuing publicity was prolonged by fruitless requests to the service provider to take down the offending image.

But if we are honest we are all affected to a greater or lesser extent by this Narcissus business. Who of us can resist looking into a shop window which reflects our image? The fascination does not lessen with age! Solomon put his finger on our latent pride when he said, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes Chapter 1). In fact of the four “prides” (Grace, Place & Race) Pride of Face” is the most troublesome.

Isaiah, referring to Jesus, says there was “nothing in his appearance that we should desire him”. In fact the narrative goes out of its way to emphasise at the end of his life on earth the gruesomeness of his features “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man” (Isaiah Chapters 52/53).

It wasn’t his form but his words that attracted people to him. Because of his death and resurrection he alone can offer us pride bound creatures the deliverance we need if we will but turn from the Selfie and look to Him the risen reigning Lord and commit our lives to him.

Where has Granny gone Daddy? The answer to the child’s question has engaged thinkers down through the centuries. The empty chair is a stark reminder that its occupant is no longer with us.

One young man age 5, after the funeral, explained that they had been putting Granny up to heaven!

In a discussion with colleagues there seemed to be a consensus that we could not know for sure. My suggestion that we take the word of the only person in recorded history who had come back from the dead was thought to be too familiar and the familiarity bred contempt!

But the fact is that my sceptical colleagues could have experienced the reality of it for themselves had they lived in Jerusalem at the time of the resurrection. On one occasion there were 500 present to vouch for Christ’s appearing. Now some two millennia on we have the words of the Apostle John who understood that there was never a time when Jesus, whom he calls “the Word of Life” did not exist.

He opens his first letter with the words “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete” (Chapter 1 verses 1-4).

St John paints a graphic word picture of seeing and touching the incarnate Christ. He refers to him as the eternal life – death is not a terminus. In fact scripture sees it more as the culmination of the separation caused by sin. As Isaiah put it; “your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Chapter 59 verse 2).

Jesus removed the consequences of sin from his followers. Speaking about the results of the new life to Martha Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”

Then he asked her “Do you believe this?” (St John Chapter 11 verse 25-26).

Funerals mark the departure point from this life but for the believer they represent the completion of the work that started at conversion where the new life in Christ took root.

The empty chair also reminds us that our turn will come; the time to prepare is now! Trust your life to the One who died in the sinners place and rose to ensure his eternal security.

In a week which produced a lack-lustre budget when the most significant thing seemed to be John O’Shea’s last minute equalising goal against Germany my eye caught sight of an account of a Humanist wedding.

I am always delighted to hear that our humanist friends are bucking the trend of simply living together and involving themselves in the old fashioned Christian ceremony of plighting ones troth to another for this life.

It appears that this was not just a one-off but that 800 or so will be tying the nuptial knot this year. So what do they do that is different?

Well the wedding dress, complete with veil, was a carbon copy of the time honoured custom. The groom, well scrubbed up for the occasion, looked slick in a smart suit. A Humanist celebrant was located and a selection of readings and love poems agreed.

All this seemed pretty familiar but then comes the “sand ceremony”! This involved the couples pouring yellow and green sand into a glass jar so that the particles mixed inseparably. Doubtless it would have the place of honour in the house for years to come a constant reminder of the vows taken for lifelong fidelity. Beats lighting a candle from a couple of other candles any day!

So what’s missing?

Well God is. He instituted Marriage before the fall, as being a bulwark against loneliness and the means by which the race is regenerated. It keys into the attraction of opposites and blossoms as a lifelong love affair.

In Scripture, families became the building blocks of society and from the 12 sons of Jacob came the 12 tribes of Israel. These incorporated simple rules of engagement whereby the taking of foreign women as wives was forbidden. This maintained the purity of the bloodline giving us the genealogies culminating in the birth of Christ the Son of God by the Holy Spirit and the Son of Man as descended from King David – two natures in one person.

It was at a wedding that Jesus performed his first miracle (St John Chapter 2 verses 1-11). And it was in the context of holy living that St Paul restated the principle that Christians marry Christians (2 Corinthians Chapter 6 verse 14).

But the most fundamental difference between Christian marriage and all other forms is that it is intended to reflect the relationship between Christ and his Church. He is the groom and the church is the bride linked in an indissoluble union (Ephesians Chapter 5 verses 22-27). That’s why God hates divorce – amongst other things it breaks the union (Malachi Chapter 2 verse 16).

The Bible concludes with the glorious picture of the wedding feast of the Lamb (Jesus) with his bride (the church of the redeemed) Revelation Chapter 19 verses 6/7.

G. F. Handel encapsulated a flavour of the scene in the climax of his oratorio “Messiah” but the real thing is the Christian’s eager anticipation.

The jar of sand will run out but there is an eternal wedding banquet – Jesus invites you.

It must be a couple of years since I read the book “I am Malala” and was moved by the courage of this young Pakistani girl who defied the Taliban.

The Nobel committee don’t always get it right but in awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to her this week they certainly did. At 17 she is the youngest ever to receive the award and the first from Pakistan.

It all started in the home of her headmaster father where Malala was the eldest daughter. Her father campaigned against the exclusion of girls from the education system and in doing so incurred the wrath of the Taliban.

These were bloody times in the Swat Valley with the Taliban using force to impose their brand of Islam. Despite the danger her father went on to found a girls school which quickly built up an enrolment of 200 pupils.

Malala espoused her father’s ideals and before she was in her teens began writing a blog on BBC Urdu programme about life in the Swat Valley. This continued to highlight injustices but more particularly the plight of girls being banned from attending school. Eventually her identity was discovered and life became even more difficult. During this period her father’s courage was exemplary. Through many threats he was not intimidated and kept his school going although the number of pupils became much smaller as fear gripped the community.

The day Malala was shot she was on the school bus on her way to school.

A Taliban fighter boarded the bus and shot her through the head and shoulder. Providentially the shot was not fatal and after treatment in both the local and national hospitals she was airlifted to Birmingham where her face was rebuilt.

Now, at age 17 and still at school, she supports, through the Malala Fund, local education groups in countries like Pakistan. Her work has taken her to Nigeria where she has campaigned on behalf of the 200 girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram. Her message is simple. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you are weaker or less that anything – you are not less than a boy you are not less than a child from a richer or more powerful country.”

Courage and a cause are powerful motivators.

John the Baptist looked for evidence of the Messiah. Jesus referred him to the evidence which fulfilled prophesy. “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have the good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (St Matthew Chapter 11 verses 4/6).

John might have hoped for countrywide repentance leading to regime change and the mild rebuke at the end of the evidence required John (and us) to be open to God’s unfolding plan. This led Jesus to the cross where our chronic sinfulness could be dealt with and the poor in spirit from all nations liberated from guilt to serve the Lord in the situations in which he has placed them.

Christian emancipation goes beyond education and “rights” to being ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven and to look after others rights including their salvation.

In a day of declension from spiritual values in Ireland it is encouraging to learn of our fellow Baptists in the Cork/Kerry region marking their steady growth in their annual celebration which took place the other day. From small beginnings with a couple of churches the work has progressed to neighbouring towns till we now have eight churches, each standing on its own two feet, with its leadership in place.

There appears to be a New Testament principle that new churches are created pregnant! That is they have the makings of another church within their ranks. Certainly the principle has been seen in practice over the last 20 or so years in Munster.

What makes it all the more extraordinary is the background against which this has taken place. The upsurge of materialism created during the Celtic Tiger years produced tiger cubs that rapidly became addicted to the “good life”. The god Mammon became increasingly intolerant of anything that stood in his way, so family life suffered as work took precedence over domestic relationships. Marriage became largely replaced by promiscuity and, when it took place, the advent of “DINKS” (double income no kids) became more attractive than rearing a family.

Secularism, aided by church scandals, became attractive to many. To placate the inherent desire for the transcendent new spiritualities sprang up and produced the New Age culture which, although muted, is still with us.

So what was the preaching that made a difference in the Cork/Kerry region? It was simply people who believed the A,B,C of the Gospel.

A. All have sinned – Romans Chapter 3 verse 23.

B. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved – Acts Chapter 16 verse 31.

C. Commit your life to Him in prayer – St John Chapter 1 verse 12.

The prayer? In your own words simply confess your sins and your wish to turn from them. Recognise that Jesus died taking (your) the sinners place and rose again to ensure the sinners welcome into His family as a forgiven and changed person relying on Jesus’s promise never to leave you.

In this case the ombudsman is a woman! None other than our own Emily O’Reilly who presented her annual report this week as the European Ombudsman. She got the job on the back of her proven ability here in Ireland and it looks like she will be re-elected next May for a further 4 year term.

What is the job that she has done so successfully? It does not sound very glamorous, fielding complaints which the public raise about the workings of the European Parliament. Last year her staff of 80 had to deal with 23,000 of them! Of these 350 led to the opening of enquiries. You can imagine that she would not be very popular with the Parliamentarians she is investigating!

Her success is largely due to her treating the work not so much as a complaint handling body but an office which can bring reality into the cliché dominated jargon of Brussels-speak! She has worked to hold politicians to act out the words they use like transparency and accountability. These are trotted out so glibly in their speeches but seldom reckoned on having to actually put into practice.

She has also been proactive in investigating matters which have not been subject of any complaint. Last July she initiated a probe into the EC-US trade deal which lacked transparency. She also has an ongoing enquiry into the close links some EU staff members have with big business.

Her years doing the job in Ireland have proved to be an effective training ground!

Just how difficult the job is in Ireland was demonstrated recently when the Garda Ombudsman suspected his office was being bugged. The ensuing fracas claimed the heads of the Minister of Justice and the Garda Commissioner both of whom had to resign. It leaves a number of unanswered questions that official enquiries have not been able to get to the bottom of.

The principles of transparency and accountability are writ large in the Bible.

Perhaps they are best summed up by the writer to the Hebrews who had a high view of the perspicacity of Scripture, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Chapter 4 verses 12-13).

But you might say, “I don’t read the Bible so how can I be accountable?” St Paul writing to people like that in Rome said, “They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares (Chapter 2 verses 15-16).

Don’t leave it to the divine Ombudsman to expose you. Confess your sins and commit your life in prayer to Jesus. “Whoever comes to Me I will never drive away” John 6:37.