for GB News 12 Days of Christmas
Day three. Hi, I'm Chris Tufnell, a vicar in the Church of England
One of the ways we decorate our home for Christmas is with a little hand-carved wooden nativity scene
complete with animals, shepherds, Mary, Joseph and Jesus. It helps remind us that Christmas
is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. But about now we begin to think about
packing the decorations away and putting them back in the attic for next year
Of course, that closely mirrors many people's connection to Jesus. We think of him for a few days around Christmas
and then he goes back into the attic of our minds. But for many of those who knew the man Jesus
when he lived and walked on earth, his impact shaped and defined the rest of their lives
One such person was a man called John. He spent the rest of his life pondering the message of Jesus
He never went back into the attic of his mind. And as an old man, he wrote it all down in what is now my favourite book of the Bible, John's Gospel
He ends his book, his life's work, by speaking directly to his reader to tell them why he's written
he says it's so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah the son of God and that by believing
you may have life in his name many including myself have claimed to have met the man Jesus
not in history but in the pages of that book and for those who have he will never go back
into the attic of our minds