Pastor's Pen - January 2008

Dear Friends in Christ,

Perhaps as you read this you have finally taken some time to enjoy all of preparations that you made for this Christmas holiday. All of the decorating, the baking, the hurrying and scurrying have passed and you actually have a moment to appreciate the greatest gift of all, the gift of God's love in the incarnation of the Word. It is good that the church holds Christmas to be a season of 12 days rather than just one 24 hour period. If it were just one day, it would certainly be lost in the message of the culture in which we live, a message of buying and consuming. Unfortunately, because the world has been promoting Christmas since the beginning of October at the very least, many are already done with the celebration. By now you have probably already seen Christmas trees relegated to the yard as the decorations of the season are taken down for another year. Instead of lingering over the days of Christmas we are encouraged to hurry on to the next "card and candy" event of the calendar.

It is true that eventually even the Church lets go of Christmas and moves on in the seasons of the year. But once again for that brief period of time when we are out of step with the world, we witness to the overwhelming love and grace that has been showered upon us in the birth of the Savior. God has taken on human form that we might no longer be afraid. God has become like us that we might more freely hear the word of love that God offers to all of God's children. God has become flesh that we might be confident of God's desire to make us God's very own. It is with that assurance and with that confidence that we face the world. It is with that confidence and assurance that we can live our lives contrary to the culture that surrounds us because we already have received affirmation from God. As a result, we do not need to conform to the false promises of this world in an effort to know who we are.

God's love makes us God's own. In that promise we have more than anything that the world has to offer to us. In hearing and living in that promise, we bring change to a fallen and broken world that awaits the return of the one who was made flesh. In our faithful witness, there come glimpses of the power and presence of the living God. In the believers the Word continues to take on flesh and be revealed to those who are in need. Mindful of God's love and God's gift, let us celebrate fully all of the days of Christmas.