4 minute read
All I want for Christmas
Rico Tice
Christmas
RICO TICE, a minister and author, explains how we can get what we really want this festive season
Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku
‘WHAT would you like for Christmas?’ is the question on Rico Tice’s mind. In answer to his own query, he says that some of the things he’d like to ask for are actually out of reach – for example, a new knee.
‘My right one has never been great since playing rugby,’ the Londonbased minister tells me. Presents in general, he says, ‘are normally an anticlimax’, because the things that we truly long for can’t be bought. But he believes that there is a way we can get them. Rico has written a book, The Ultimate Christmas Wishlist, which considers what people’s deepest desires might be. Three common human desires are, he tells me, for purpose, peace and hope. He explains where they can be found. ‘Jesus brings what we really long for,’ he says. ‘His resurrection brings purpose, because everything that we do is a part of a story that lasts for ever – and everything matters.
‘At Christmas people want peace with each other. Christmas often reveals bad family relationships, but Christian belief gives you the capacity to forgive each other.
‘Today we’ve got climate change, Covid, conflict in Europe and economic chaos. We need hope to keep us steady, and Jesus brings that hope.’
In his book, Rico uses a verse from the Bible – Isaiah 9:6 – that is often quoted at Christmas-time in reference to Jesus: ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’ (New International Version).
‘Later in the Bible,’ Rico tells me, ‘we see those things. Jesus calms a storm, which shows him as the Mighty God. Being the Everlasting Father, he raises the dead. Being the Prince of Peace, he dies on the cross. And his teachings bring light, because he is a Wonderful Counsellor.
‘The prophecy being fulfilled shows that we can trust him for the promise he made in the past and encourages us to trust him for our future.’
Rico uses various incidents from Luke’s Gospel to describe how people can receive the gifts that Jesus offers them. One of them is the conversation between Jesus and the thief who hung on a cross next to him.
‘The account of the thief on the cross models three steps to paradise. The thief says, “We are being justly punished.” So the first step is to acknowledge our wrongdoing. To come to faith, we have to admit our sin. Although we are all victims
wishes
in one way or another, we are not primarily victims; we are primarily rebels. Secondly, we have to recognise Jesus. The thief says, “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” That is him acknowledging Jesus as King. Thirdly, the thief had asked to be accepted, by saying, “Remember me.” It is the shortest but most powerful prayer in the Bible.’
After his encounter with Jesus, the penitent thief died. I ask Rico how anyone can trust that God is good, when all people die and lose loved ones. He points to the death of his own mother as a moment of discovery.
‘As she was dying in the hospital, I said three things to her: “Goodbye, I love you and I’ll see you again.” My mother had put her faith in Jesus – which is to say she believed that Jesus was born, lived and taught, was tried in a Roman-Jewish court, sentenced to die, strung up on a cross, certified as dead but days later was walking around again.’
Rico believes that Jesus’ death and resurrection show that God is good because he has a plan that will carry us beyond death. People who put their trust
in Jesus can have the hope of eternal life. ‘The Resurrection is like a needle that goes through a carpet, but Jesus pulls us through behind it. What staggered people The Bible promises is that Jesus talked about the resurrection of the dead. This means that we don’t that one day there’ll grieve without hope, because we believe that we will rise again. be no more pain ‘The Bible promises that one day there’ll be no more hospitals or hearses or handkerchiefs, no more crying or death or pain. If that’s true, it’s the only thing that can bring us comfort. As Christians, we know that the last thing – death – is not the worst thing. It is just the first page of a book that will go on, each page getting better and better.’
l The Ultimate
