The Pastor’s Page
December News Letter
It’s that time again! Time for the mad dash to Christmas. Once again our lives will be thrown into upheaval as we make our often frantic preparations for the big day. If you find yourself at wits end this holiday season, it may be because you’ve lost the real meaning of Christmas. And what is that? It’s quite simple: God loves us. Christmas is the grand climax of the story of God’s love affair with the human race. The entire Bible, from beginning to end, is the story of that love affair, an affair that culminated in a manger in Bethlehem two thousand years ago.
Prior to the birth of Jesus, God had been courting the human race and expressing his love to us for thousands of years. The Old Testament is the story of that courtship. But God had a difficult time delivering his message of love. The Old Testament is the account of God’s many attempts to communicate his love to us—through miracles and mighty acts, through prophets, priest, and kings. But we never quite seemed to get the message. A few did, but most often the people misunderstood or even rejected God’s message. They spurned God’s love in order to pursue other suitors, to chase after idols and false gods.
But our God is a patient suitor who never stopped trying to win us over. And finally, God found one human being who was willing to fully accept his love: Mary. Mary did not reject God’s love, but was willing to be the bearer of the Christ child. Mary responded to God’s messenger, the angel Gabriel, with words that have forever changed human history: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be . . .” (Luke 1:38).
Finally, centuries of courtship culminated in the most intimate act between God and humankind. Through Mary, God literally united with humanity. The almighty God, creator of the universe, came breaking into time and space, came from heaven to earth, took on flesh and became one of us. In Mary an amazing union took place, a union of God and woman, of heaven and earth, of the physical and the spiritual, a union of our imperfect nature with the perfect. “And the Word became flesh and lived among
us . . .” (John 1:14).
But, why? Why would God do this? Why would God take such a risk? Why would the immortal, omnipotent God come down out of heaven to live here with us, suffer here with us, and die here with us? If the answer lies anywhere, it lies in the name that the Christ child would bear: “All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us’” (Matthew 1:22-23). In the human body of Jesus, God was with us fully and intimately. God wanted us to know that he fully knows what being human entails, that he truly knows what pain and suffering and death are like, for God himself endured some of the greatest pain and suffering anyone could know—on the cross.
Again, why? Why would God do this? God did this out of infinite live and compassion, in order that God could be fully and truly with us is our own battles with pain, suffering, and death. Whenever we face tragedy and suffering in our lives, we can never say that God doesn’t know what we are enduring, for he has endured it all with us, and for us, on the cross.
Emmanuel! God is with us! God is with us through the good times and the bad, fully with us in the depths of our greatest suffering, fully with us even in death. Since God has become one with us in Jesus Christ, we know that we will never have to face anything in the world alone. God is always with us. Emmanuel! God took on human flesh, suffered, and died for us, so that we would know—know that we are loved forever.
Wishing you all a joyous celebration of God’s love this Christmas,
Prior to the birth of Jesus, God had been courting the human race and expressing his love to us for thousands of years. The Old Testament is the story of that courtship. But God had a difficult time delivering his message of love. The Old Testament is the account of God’s many attempts to communicate his love to us—through miracles and mighty acts, through prophets, priest, and kings. But we never quite seemed to get the message. A few did, but most often the people misunderstood or even rejected God’s message. They spurned God’s love in order to pursue other suitors, to chase after idols and false gods.
But our God is a patient suitor who never stopped trying to win us over. And finally, God found one human being who was willing to fully accept his love: Mary. Mary did not reject God’s love, but was willing to be the bearer of the Christ child. Mary responded to God’s messenger, the angel Gabriel, with words that have forever changed human history: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be . . .” (Luke 1:38).
Finally, centuries of courtship culminated in the most intimate act between God and humankind. Through Mary, God literally united with humanity. The almighty God, creator of the universe, came breaking into time and space, came from heaven to earth, took on flesh and became one of us. In Mary an amazing union took place, a union of God and woman, of heaven and earth, of the physical and the spiritual, a union of our imperfect nature with the perfect. “And the Word became flesh and lived among
us . . .” (John 1:14).
But, why? Why would God do this? Why would God take such a risk? Why would the immortal, omnipotent God come down out of heaven to live here with us, suffer here with us, and die here with us? If the answer lies anywhere, it lies in the name that the Christ child would bear: “All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us’” (Matthew 1:22-23). In the human body of Jesus, God was with us fully and intimately. God wanted us to know that he fully knows what being human entails, that he truly knows what pain and suffering and death are like, for God himself endured some of the greatest pain and suffering anyone could know—on the cross.
Again, why? Why would God do this? God did this out of infinite live and compassion, in order that God could be fully and truly with us is our own battles with pain, suffering, and death. Whenever we face tragedy and suffering in our lives, we can never say that God doesn’t know what we are enduring, for he has endured it all with us, and for us, on the cross.
Emmanuel! God is with us! God is with us through the good times and the bad, fully with us in the depths of our greatest suffering, fully with us even in death. Since God has become one with us in Jesus Christ, we know that we will never have to face anything in the world alone. God is always with us. Emmanuel! God took on human flesh, suffered, and died for us, so that we would know—know that we are loved forever.
Wishing you all a joyous celebration of God’s love this Christmas,
