Carol Concert 14 December 2025

Why Are We Here?

It’s funny, isn’t it - the things that connect us. The things that suddenly give us that feeling of warmth, posi vibes, festive cheer.

We find ourselves here tonight - because at Christmas, we feel that we want to be at the carols.

Why are we here?

It’s a feeling, right? It reminds us that we might think it’s all about the biggest present, or the fattest Turkey, or the shiniest star. But sometimes, in the hustle and bustle of modern life - In the constant interruption of vibrating notifications and chirps from our phones, from work emails when we’re on Christmas holiday’s and those annoying voicemails that we’re sure are probably spam but we have to check them anyway - sometimes, we need to remember that we’re built to be ‘Where Love Lives”

We know that there is something deeper to Christmas, and so we hunt for it where we can find it, we’re desperate for it.

We love the Presents, of course we do! But once the presents are shared, and the dinner is eaten, and there’s that moment on Christmas day when the kids are screaming and Grandma’s complaining and it feels like we’ll never get it back to as tidy as it was just a day ago when we got it ready for everyone to arrive… We get the feeling that it’s not meant to be this hard, right? It should be better than this.

Life is not meant to be this hard. A crumbling economy, news filled with terrifying stories, AI taking over the world (and possibly our jobs) and come on. At some point, don’t we deserve a break?

So I wanna throw it back to 2000 years ago, in Jerusalem. A place where the people in charge are worried about the thoughts and beliefs of the people on the street. Where the economy is in tatters, where a couple of rich people are in charge of everything. Where people feel downtrodden, beaten, and no longer in control.

A small baby is born.

For thousands of years, just like we heard in our readings tonight, the Jewish people expected a Messiah. and on that day, 2000 years ago, he turned up. Just as God had promised.

He wasn’t born into a a castle, or a temple. He wasn’t born as the heir to a kingdom, or a crypto billionaire but in a stable.

God Himself, entered into the world, as a human baby, because he Knew we couldn’t do this by ourselves.

He came to remind us that every day was meant to be like Christmas Morning, lived close with him. Every moment we live is meant to feel like that moment we open the perfect present.

And we know that. In our soul. In our heart. In our heads.

We want the carol service. We want the BBC drama Downton Abbey, Call The Midwife Christmas, because we feel like it’s not meant to be the way the world looks right now.

And it’s not. and it won’t always be.

Christmas cards, the smell of pine drifting through the house, the fireplace crackling—all of these things turn our thoughts to those we love. We feel that need to reach out to others especially at this time of year and extend a hand, a heart of love. This is what Jesus did for all mankind. He reached down from Heaven into earth for us, a people who need a relationship with Love Himself.

Jesus is where love lives. When He was born, God chose to come close. He came as a baby, small and gentle because love is not loud or scary. Love is kind and near.

In the manger, we see that love begins by being with us.

Walt Whitman said - Stay curious, not judgemental.

Maybe you’re not sure why you’re here tonight. Perhaps as you’ve sung these carols, and joined with us, you’ve felt a sense of belonging, of love. That feeling is not because of tradition, It’s because there is so much more to life.

It’s Jesus. that nagging feeling that there’s something deeper, something more important, something kinder, something better.

There is.

And if you wanna chat anymore about why we feel that way, why we know it’s not meant to be like this - Why we’re so desperate for that ‘Christmas Feeling’, why we’re so sure that this isn’t how it’s meant to be - then please, come and chat to me after. Or join us on any Sunday at all, or just come for a cup of coffee. You haven’t got to believe to be here.

Let’s ask questions, let’s be curious, let’s ask ourselves why we’re here, and what we’re doing. Why did we want to come to a carol service this evening?

So as you leave this place tonight, carry this with you: the love you are longing for has a name, and it came close enough to be held. Jesus was born so that love would no longer feel distant or impossible, but real, touchable, and shared. You are Loved. You are Worthy. You are Welcome.

Wherever you go next, whatever this season holds, you are invited to live from that love, and to let your life become a place where love lives too.

Merry Christmas