Most of us manage to go through life without ever murdering anyone (thank goodness!) but managing our anger is a much harder task. We see in the life of Jesus that anger can be good, if properly directed, but too easily it can be destructive.

God calls us to use our words to speak truth and encouragement to others.

We are called to shine light on the hope and healing in a dark world. To do this we need to live as people of mercy, to challenge injustice and to extend love to all we meet.

To be truly seen, we have to be hidden. When we stop focussing on self we learn to look towards God.

As we dig into the opening of the Sermon on the Mount (the Beatitudes) we see that the kind of happiness (blessedness) offered by Jesus stands in contrast to the momentary pleasures of the world.

The draw of the broad path is strong; it offers us the appearance of freedom, unlimited autonomy and little concern for consequences. However, the call to follow Christ is the call to walk the narrow path of discipleship. Whilst this path is not always the easiest it is nonetheless the path to life and true flourishing.

As the magi were drawn to worship the Christ Child, we too are called to a life offered as a living sacrifice.

As we come to the turn of the year it's a perfect time to reflect upon what God is calling us into in 2025.

When we take Jesus out of Christmas, we might have a fun time, but we lose so much of the beauty and joy available to us. Placing the manger at the centre of our Christmas celebrations enriches the time we spend with our loved ones.

Christmas can often seem to busy and complex, but at its heart is a single, simple truth - God came to be with us. This has the power to radically change our lives. It moves us from a state of simply knowing about God to knowing Him personally and relationally.

At Christmas, God reminds us how He breaks into the darkness of our world. At the heart of the Christmas message is the fact that Jesus is Emmanuel - God with us - and it is through being with each other in both the light and darkness of life, that we show God's love to others.

The way of the Kingdom is the way of humility. As we round off our advent sermons we return to the theme of what true greatness in the eyes of God looks like. From John the Baptist through to Mary we see God continually champions those the world sees as of little worth.