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Three weeks ago, I bought a new pair of shoes.

When we buy new shoes, we don’t buy them to keep them in their box in a cupboard, never worn. We buy them to wear. So, when I bought them, took them out of their box, and put them on, I went outside where the ground was damp, grass wet, paths muddy, and sidewalks typically dirty this time of year. The shoes are purchased to be used. The new shoes will become my everyday shoes; I’ll wear them most of the time.

The astonishing truth of Christmas is that God’s Son became flesh, fully human, to redeem us. In Mark 10:45, Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came for a purpose; he did not come to be left in the manger, protected from the grime of the world. He came into a broken world to redeem sinful people.

Christmas is amazing. We celebrate the gift of God’s Son. His birth is reason to rejoice. Angels sing about his birth. Shepherds come to see him. Wise men travel to bow before him and give their gifts. But Christmas isn’t the whole story of God’s love. As Joseph is told in a dream in Matthew 1:21, Mary “will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sin.” Jesus came to redeem. He came to step into my messy life, and yours, and everyone’s. The question for us is not whether we will have a Merry Christmas, but whether we will welcome him as Lord and Saviour. Let us therefore remember the manger, but also the cross and the empty tomb.

Just like the new shoes I bought to walk in this messy world, so Jesus came to enter our messy world and redeem us. Thanks be to God.

視頻大意翻譯(video Chinese translation):

大家早。

三個星期前我買了一雙新的鞋子。

當我們買新鞋時，我們不會把他們放在盒子裡，放在架子上不穿。買來是要穿的。所以我穿上我的新鞋，這個季節地上和草地是潮濕的、道路泥濘，人行道也通常是骯髒的。這雙新鞋有它的用處，它也變成了每天穿的鞋，大部分的時間我將穿著它。

聖誕節令人驚訝的事實是神的愛子道成肉身成為了人，來救贖我們。馬可福音10:45節，耶穌說:” 因為人子來、並不是要受人的服事、乃是要服事人、並且要捨命、作多人的贖價。” 耶穌的來到有個目的，他來不是要留在馬槽，免受世俗的汙染。他來到這破碎的世界來救贖有罪的人們。

聖誕節是令人吃驚的。我們慶祝神愛子這個禮物。他的誕生是我們歡欣的理由。天使歌頌他的誕生，牧羊人來看他，智者遠道來到他面前屈膝並獻上禮物。但聖誕節並非神愛的故事的全部。就如約瑟在馬太福音1:21中說的 瑪利亞”將要生一個兒子．你要給他起名叫耶穌．因他要將自己的百姓從罪惡裏救出來。”耶穌來是要救贖，進入你、我、每一個人混亂的生活中。對我們來說，問題不是是否我們會有個快樂的聖誕節，而是，我們是否歡迎他成為我們的主和救主。讓我們記住馬槽，十字架，和那個空墳。感謝神。

讓我們禱告。

Grace and peace.

Pastor Callum