The Greatest News Ever!Sample

Like it, loathe it, lump it, love it? Christmas is just around the corner.

As a sports person, how do you view Christmas?

A rude interruption in the season? A demand to train harder and play more games? A welcome break and a chance to put the feet up?

Over the next five weeks in the run up to Christmas,we’re going to consider the world's greatest announcement. We’re going to scrutinise the news that the angels brought to the shepherds and see how this news, the greatest news ever, changes everything about how we view and play our sport this Christmas.

We find this news in Luke 2:8-12.

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Announcements are part and parcel of our sport.

“Gather in,” says the coach, “before we train tonight, I have an announcement to make.”

Or the club chairperson at the end of season awards, “Quiet everyone…let me welcome you and start with an announcement.”

Some announcements can be long awaited and expected. Others catch us off guard.

We can only imagine the scenes in those fields on the out-skirts of Bethlehem on that all-too familiar night.

As usual, shepherds gathered for the night-watch, checking in with each other and seeing that the sheep were all accounted for. And then, the most extraordinary encounter as,“an angel of the Lord appeared to them.”

The encounter was mind-blowing, unexpected, and literally out of this world. Yet the essence of the announcement, the news the angel brought that night, was strangely familiar and expected. The long-awaited messiah was someone that Jewish shepherd boys had been taught to expect and look out for.

The first words the shepherds heard that night must have been like a soothing bubble bath after a hard training session:

“Do not be afraid.”

It’s pretty obvious why the angel started the greatest announcement of all time with these words, for we read that the shepherds were terrified. That means that they were shaking with fear as the glory of God shone forth from the angel.

Those words are good words for us to hear as we start this Christmas series.

As you read this, you won’t be literally shaking with fear but the context of sport, at any level, can very often and very easily, make us fearful.

• The fear of failure
• The fear of rejection
• The fear of disappointing others
• The fear of not securing another contract
• The fear of injury
• The fear of letting God down
• The fear of being ridiculed for your faith

Is there one major fear that currently grips your heart, or are there many? Perhaps you’re in a good place but you remember fears past and know that these could raise their heads at other points in the future.

The angel’s words are balm for our fearful souls: “Do not be afraid.”

Why? Because we will see that the good news the angel brings is full of great joy that chases all fear away.

There is a line in the carol ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ that sums this up well;

“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

So, whatever your sports context is in the run up to Christmas, let this announcement from the Angel of the Lord change you from the inside out. It is the greatest news ever!

Pray for yourself

Father God, thank you that you are able to deal with all my fears and failures. Please help me to come to you with them and ask you to help me in them. Amen

Pray for your friends

Finally, take a few minutes to pray for those in your sport - that God will open a door for his message in your club or team this Game Day.Amen