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OK, if I can actually to pause 
your conversations momentarily, 

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you can begin them again. 
Do you know, have you ever 

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walked into a room in pitch 
black and maybe walked into the 

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side of the bed or stubbed your 
toe on a chair or anything like 

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that? 
There's a few nods in our 

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bedroom. 
Our bed has a wooden bit, an end

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bit. 
Has it got a name? 

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Foot Bedford. 
The foot of the foot of the bed.

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Well, anyway, I can tell you 
exactly how tall it is. 

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It's this tall because I have a 
permanent bruise here because I 

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walk into it all the time. 
I mean, we have had the bed for 

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18 years and you'd think I'd 
learn, but no, we kind of walk 

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in in the pitch black, don't 
you? 

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And then you turn on the light. 
I'm going to try not to blind 

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anybody. 
And suddenly it's a good torch, 

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isn't it? 
See, all of you are squinting 

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now, and I'm not shining at your
eyes. 

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Whoop. 
And the spotlight is going to 

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land on you when we turn on the 
light. 

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And if we'd have been able to 
work out the lights in this room

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back, I'd have made it go 
completely dark, and then we'd 

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have turned the lights on. 
But they're really complicated. 

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When it goes dark, when it's 
dark and you turn on a light, 

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what happens? 
The darkness disappears. 

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The darkness doesn't fight back,
it disappears. 

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It goes when you're in a space 
of complete pitch dark, pitch 

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black, one small flame, 1 little
bit of light. 

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One of these tea lights would 
make such a difference. 

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The darkness is expelled. 
I don't know whether you've ever

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experienced a power cut and 
you're searching around for that

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one little tea light that you 
think is in the bottom of your 

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cutlery drawer somewhere and you
light it and it makes all the 

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difference. 
When I asked earlier, what 

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sources of light do we have, 
Where do we get light from? 

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I think it was Bethany that said
stars. 

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Stars give us light now because 
we have lots of light pollution.

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I would say. 
Why don't we go outside 

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afterwards and just look at the 
stars? 

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I'm not sure we'll be able to 
see them. 

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But if you've ever been in the 
middle of the countryside and 

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it's been dark and you've looked
up, the stars look incredible, 

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don't they? 
They give light and at this time

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of year you just have to walk 
around or drive around that kind

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of where you live. 
And houses are lit up, aren't 

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they? 
And some of them, some of them 

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near where we live are utterly 
impressive. 

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And I think I wish I had a house
like that, but they are amazing.

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They bring light. 
So this afternoon as I'm 

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talking, I'm just going to talk 
for another few minutes or so. 

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If you would like to create 
something, then over here Daisy 

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is going to help give out. 
We've got, we've got some stars 

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that you can decorate. 
We've got some things you can 

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color them if you'd like to, if 
you are small and would like to 

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do that, but also if you are big
and you'd like to create things 

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that and Daisy is going to 
distribute some baskets and 

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there's some stars in there. 
There's wooden stars and there's

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cardboard stars that you're more
than welcome to decorate. 

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I'm guessing when you arrived 
here this afternoon, it was 

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either getting dark or it was 
already dark. 

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I don't know about you, but it 
feels like sometimes life can 

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feel a bit dark. 
Maybe at Christmas, when there 

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are lots of sparkling twinkly 
lights everywhere and everything

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seems very jolly. 
It might be that actually, for 

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you, you don't feel that jolly. 
And it doesn't. 

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You don't really feel like being
all smiley and cheery and happy.

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It can feel dark. 
We carry with us grief, we carry

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anxiety, we carry loss, we carry
fear. 

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You know, our world can feel 
quite dark, can't it? 

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With wars going on, with the 
cost of living being high, with 

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political turmoil, with 
environmental crises. 

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There is brokenness and darkness
all around. 

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And that's just the kind of 
world that Jesus was born into 

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when he was born over 2000 years
ago. 

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He wasn't born into a world 
filled with fairy lights and 

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mulled wine, where everything 
was peaceful and calm, although 

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if you take the words of the 
carols, you might think that 

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that is the case. 
But he was born into a world 

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where there was a lot of fear 
and injustice and pain. 

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And one of Jesus's best friends,
his beloved friend, wrote an 

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account of his life just before 
he died. 

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And his book is called the Book 
of John, and he wrote a couple 

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of letters as well. 
They're in the Bible and in John

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one, right at the very 
beginning, John said the light 

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shines in the darkness and the 
darkness has not overcome it. 

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Some translations say in the 
darkness cannot overcome, cannot

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extinguish it. 
You know, I think that this is 

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the heartbeat of Christmas, 
God's light, Jesus, the light of

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the world breaking into real 
darkness. 

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You know, it's why every year we
celebrate Christmas, not just 

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for commercialism, not so that 
we can just make our houses look

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00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:33,280
pretty with maybe sparkling 
lights and and nice smelling 

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candles. 
At least my house I like a nice 

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smelling candle. 
But we celebrate Christmas every

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year. 
We remember it to remember that 

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Jesus birth changed everything. 
God coming to earth changed 

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everything. 
You know, just like when light 

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enters darkness, darkness is 
expelled and light cannot be 

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overcome. 
OK, how many of you have watched

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00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,200
a Christmas movie in this 
season? 

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00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:08,200
Put your hand up, A few of you. 
OK, keep your hand up if you've 

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00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,400
watched more than one Christmas 
movie. 

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Oh, there's some stalwarts 
amongst you. 

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Oh, I'm. 
I'm impressed. 

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00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:18,960
Anyone watched more than three 
Christmas movies? 

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I'm loving this. 
Anyone watch more than 4 

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Christmas movies? 
Anyone watched more than 5 

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00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:34,240
Christmas movies? 
I'm really impressed. 

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I think the prizes may be for 
for these guys and these guys. 

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How many of you watched Jonah 5?
You've watched 5. 

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That's like, how old are you? 
5? 

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You're 5, aren't you? 
Or you're going to be 5 this 

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week. 
You're already 5. 

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In a couple of days you had your
party. 

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Now that means you're 55. 
You've watched as many years as 

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you've been alive. 
You've watched that many 

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00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:02,440
Christmas films in the last few 
weeks? 

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I've only watched one, which was
last night. 

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And one of my favorite Christmas
films is The Muppets Christmas 

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Carol. 
Anybody agree? 

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Yes, the best I just heard. 
OK, even though we have someone 

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in our household who is doing 
GCC English and studying A 

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Christmas Carol by Charles 
Dickens, if you, if you remember

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that in recent history, even 
though we've studied it and 

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we've learned quotes, I still 
love A Muppet's Christmas Carol,

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the retelling of Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol. 

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But of course, with Kermit, Miss
Piggy and Michael Caine playing 

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Scrooge, you know, Scrooge's 
world is dark, isn't it? 

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You know, not just because he's 
having a nightmare in the in the

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story, but because his heart is 
cold and closed off. 

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He is grumpy, he is bitter, he's
alone, and he doesn't want 

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anybody near him. 
And one of the things I love 

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most about this story is the 
transformation journey that he 

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goes on as the story unfolds. 
I'm not giving any spoilers, I 

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don't think, because I'm 
guessing that most of you know 

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00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:10,040
it. 
But as the story unfolds, 

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Scrooge is Scrooge begins to see
the truth. 

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Importantly, he remembers and he
reflects. 

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He looks at moments of his 
formation which enable his 

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transformation to occur, and he 
has some help along the way. 

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We're going to watch a short 
clip. 

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Scrooge has seen the Ghost of 
Christmas Past, and his next 

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visitor is slightly different, 
so let's watch this. 

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Scrooge knew that the second of 
the ghosts was due to appear yet

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now as the clock finished 
striking. 

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Nothing. 
Come in and know me better, man.

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Come in and know me better, man.
Did I already say that? 

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It did. 
I am the ghost of Christmas 

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present. 
This is the night before the 

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00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:29,840
dawn before the day of 
Christmas. 

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Did I tell you that I am the 
Ghost of Christmas present? 

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00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,640
It did, yeah. 
Come in and know me better, man.

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You're a little absent minded, 
spirit. 

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00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,720
No, I'm a large absent minded 
spirit. 

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My mind is filled with the here 
and now and the now is 

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Christmas. 
I don't believe I've ever met 

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00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:58,440
anybody like you before, so 
really. 

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Over 1800 of my brothers have 
come before me. 1800 Imagine the

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00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:12,440
grocery bills. 
Have you ever noticed that 

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everything seems wonderful at 
Christmas? 

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00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:23,960
In all honesty spirit, no. 
Perhaps I've never understood 

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about Christmas. 
Before this day is done, you 

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will understand. 
Oh, oh, oh, Oh no, Oh no, ah, we

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shall go out into the world. 
I suppose you. 

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00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:51,120
Enjoyed. 
That of course OK, the ghost of 

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00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,800
Christmas Present literally in 
that clip as we saw, brings 

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light. 
He arrives and the lights switch

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on literally warmth, bright 
golden touch showing Scrooge 

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00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,640
what joy looks like. 
And Scrooge says he doesn't even

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00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:10,040
understand Christmas. 
Christmas Present says by the 

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00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:15,360
end you will understand. 
Now if you haven't seen the film

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or you don't know the story, The
ghost of Christmas Past takes 

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00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:22,960
him back to his childhood and he
sees, he looks in on some of the

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00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,360
light and the warmth and the 
laughter and the love that he 

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00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:31,800
had once experienced. 
And this ghost is going to show 

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00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:36,040
him his current reality in the 
present moment. 

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00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,400
And it doesn't look like it did 
when he was a child or there was

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moment when there was moments of
light. 

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00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:51,400
But by the end of the story, 
light has broken in the darkness

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00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:53,840
that Scrooge was living in. 
The selfishness, the pain, the 

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00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:59,360
loneliness is totally changed. 
Light came in and changed 

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00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,280
everything. 
Light shone in the darkness and 

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00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:05,160
the light could not be put. 
The darkness could not put the 

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00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:08,120
light out. 
Scrooge, who once muttered Bah 

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00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:12,160
humbug, is now laughing and 
giving and feasting and 

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00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:14,880
embracing all of those around 
him. 

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00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:20,160
And if you've seen the song, he 
wakes up singing and he says 

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00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:22,960
he's going to start every 
morning with a prayer and a 

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00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,160
thankful heart. 
His world is brighter not 

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00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,560
because the sun came out, but 
because something had shifted. 

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00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:37,200
Something had changed in him. 
Even Scrooge is darkness could 

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00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,400
be transformed, the darkest of 
dark. 

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00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,520
When light appears, things 
change. 

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00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,880
You know, hundreds of years 
before Jesus was born, there was

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00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:54,240
a prophet by the name of Isaiah,
and it's recorded in the Old 

195
00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:58,680
Testament. 
And he prophesied God himself 

196
00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:02,920
stepping into the world to bring
his hope. 

197
00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,160
And Isaiah says this in Isaiah 
Chapter 9, verse 2. 

198
00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:10,120
The people walking in darkness 
have seen a great light and 

199
00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,800
those living in the land of deep
darkness, a light has dawned. 

200
00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,880
And on that night in Bethlehem, 
in a stable, potentially among 

201
00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,960
the animals, the light of the 
world arrived. 

202
00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:24,800
The Christmas movie that we 
watched last night was The Star,

203
00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:29,400
which is the animated story of 
the nativity and one of the 

204
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:33,120
things I love about it is that 
Ruth the sheep, Boaz the donkey,

205
00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:35,360
and Dave the dove. 
If you haven't seen it, it's 

206
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,040
definitely worth watching. 
They are drawn to Bethlehem 

207
00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:43,600
because of the light, the star 
they have seen in the night sky.

208
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:49,120
The light is the thing that 
draws them to Jesus when he is 

209
00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,720
born. 
I quoted John earlier, Jesus's 

210
00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:56,560
best friend, Jesus's bestie. 
And if you read any of John's 

211
00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,240
writing, he talks about light a 
lot. 

212
00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,320
And just after he talked about 
light coming and the darkness 

213
00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,880
not extinguishing it, he says 
the true light that gives life 

214
00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,160
to everyone is coming into the 
world. 

215
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:14,480
And he's talking about Jesus. 
Jesus that was with God right at

216
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:19,080
creation when light was created.
Jesus is the light. 

217
00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,640
He wasn't bringing twinkly fairy
lights, although I do have a 

218
00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,480
real appreciation for them. 
And he didn't necessarily bring 

219
00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,680
warm fuzzy feelings and 
fantastic Christmas songs. 

220
00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:35,200
But he did bring light, and with
that light, hope. 

221
00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,920
When Jesus grew up, having been 
born in that barn, he announced 

222
00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:44,640
to everybody, just like Jacob 
said earlier, I am the light of 

223
00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:47,840
the world. 
And he says after that, and 

224
00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:52,280
whoever follows me will never 
walk in darkness. 

225
00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,160
Jesus came to push back real 
darkness. 

226
00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:03,120
The darkness of pain, the 
darkness of fear, the darkness 

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of grief, the darkness of shame,
the darkness of anxiety, the 

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darkness of loneliness, the 
darkness of sin. 

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Sin is just what the Bible calls
things that happen that God 

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doesn't want to happen. 
And the darkness of death. 

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Light doesn't need to fight 
darkness, it just shines. 

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And the good news of Christmas, 
the good news of Jesus, is that 

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He is the light that is brighter
than any darkness we face. 

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Think back to a moment ago when 
I asked you about walking into a

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dark room and stumbling into the
bed and stubbing your toe. 

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A light is switched on a torch 
in the darkness. 

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Light doesn't just stay in one 
corner. 

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It spreads. 
Just like Jesus's light and 

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Jesus's love. 
It's not limited to just a small

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little area. 
It spreads. 

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When we say yes to Jesus, when 
we say yes to his light in our 

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lives, our hearts and our lives 
begin to reflect that. 

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Just like Scrooge, he was 
changed when he when he saw 

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light. 
Jesus can warm the darkest, 

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coldest places in our lives. 
We just have to ask him. 

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So maybe you have felt darkness 
this year. 

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Maybe as you draw to the end of 
this calendar year, you look 

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back and you think there has 
been loneliness this year. 

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There has been grief, there has 
been anxiety. 

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There has been this sense of 
heaviness because of the world 

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we live in. 
The simple truth is that Jesus 

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doesn't wait for us to fix 
ourselves up. 

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He doesn't wait for us to get 
things right or for the world to

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be perfect. 
He entered the our world into a 

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broken world. 
He stepped right Into Darkness 

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to bring light and hope. 
And that light is still shining.

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That's the point of Christmas, 
the incarnation, God becoming 

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flesh, God having been made of 
flesh and blood and moving into 

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the neighborhood. 
Jesus, the light of the world 

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isn't just a story. 
It isn't limited just to 

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Christmas carols, but he is here
right now. 

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As Pitt mentioned, we're going 
to be launching Alpha in 

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January. 
If you would be interested in 

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finding out more about the light
that Jesus brings, then I'd 

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encourage you to sign up for 
that. 

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It might be that you are 
interested and you would like to

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read some more. 
Again, Pitt mentioned why 

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Christmas and this little 
booklet. 

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We've also got some Bibles on 
the table out on the side. 

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But we've also got these 
booklets that are just two books

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of the Bible handily together 
written by a doctor, by Luke. 

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He wrote two books. 
There's Luke and Acts. 

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I always think they should be 
called Luke 1 and Luke 2 because

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then we'd know that it's the 
sequel. 

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But if you would be interested 
in, if you'd be interested in 

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reading this, do pick it up. 
And then I know we're on the 7th

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of December, but if you start at
the end of Luke, there's 24 

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chapters and if you read 1 a 
day, you'd get to Christmas Day 

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and you'd get to read it. 
So you might want to read a 

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couple of chapters for this next
week and then keep on reading. 

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But if you've got questions 
about who Jesus is or you know 

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that you could do with a bit of 
light in the darkness that 

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you're living in, then I would 
fully recommend that you have a 

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little chat with him. 
We're going to sing some more 

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carols now, and perhaps as we 
sing, maybe have a little bit 

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think about what I've just said.
If this is new to you, think 

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about what you've heard. 
I wonder what emotions are 

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stirring within you. 
You know, I believe that God 

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speaks to us often through our 
emotions. 

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He gets our attention. 
And I invite you to ask the 

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question, why am I feeling like 
this? 

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It might be that you're 
intrigued by what I've said. 

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It might be that what I've said 
annoys you. 

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It might be that you totally 
disagree with what I've said. 

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It might be that you're thankful
for Jesus light. 

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It might be that you're 
desperate to know more. 

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All of those feelings are OK. 
I would see that as a sign that 

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the Holy Spirit is is prodding 
you. 

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And my my invitation would be to
maybe have a conversation with 

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the Lord as we sing these next 
few carols. 

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So if you're able, why don't you
stand? 

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And the band are going to lead 
us as we sing.