From the Pastor’s Desk
By JOSHUA SCHUNK, Pastor
Friends in the Community,
Greetings to each and every one of you from God our loving Heavenly Father and our living Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Can you believe it? Christmas is being celebrated on December 25th again this year! It is on the same date as was last year and the year before that. In fact, it is on the same date that it has been celebrated for centuries. Christmas is not only happening on December 25th. We are in the midst of the Christmas season right now!
For those of us who are Christians living in the 21st century, this is not a surprise. I have fun with it because it seems like Christmas comes so quick after Thanksgiving. There are times when it seems to catch us off guard. People who work in the church find themselves scrambling to get Christmas services planned or to get finishing touches on them even if those plans had been started months ago. The Holy Spirit is always nudging us to do more.
Other people find themselves rushing from store to store and web site to web site attempting to find the perfect Christmas gifts. In reality, we know that Christmas is going to come on the same day, and many of us are going to do many of the same things we have done in the past to celebrate this holiday.
The first Christmas was not expected. God’s people had been told about the Messiah. They knew that God was going to do something to bring about their deliverance just as God had always acted to bring about their deliverance. They had no idea when God was going to act or how God was going to act.
Then it happened! God found a way to send His own beloved Son into the world to live for God’s people, to suffer for God’s people, to die for God’s people and to rise for God’s people. God did this in a way that no one expected. He sent his Son to be born in a manger in a place called Bethlehem. The people were shocked.
God’s people were not expecting a baby born in a manger sent to overcome the sin of the world. The people were expecting a military leader who would lead God’s people to victory over the prevailing world power of the day. At the time when Jesus was born, the people were expecting a mighty warrior who would overcome and topple the Roman Empire.
God does not act in the ways that we expect him to act. God’s activity is always bigger and better than we can ever imagine! On that first Christmas so long ago, God surprised his people by acting in that place at that moment. They were caught off guard!
Many times we lose the surprise of Christmas even if we are a little caught off guard. We get so wrapped up in what we need to do that we lose track of what God did for us on that very special night so long ago in place that seems so far away. We know when Christmas will be celebrated and how we will spend this very special holiday. God still surprises us through the Christmas story because every time we read it we realize just how great this act of God’s love is for us. God sends His son to be one of us and to live life with us and for us. This year let’s allow ourselves to experience the greatness of this mighty act of God.
Just a thought …
Pastor Josh
