A WORD FROM YOUR PASTOR
Advent is drawing to a close as we approach the coming of the Christmas season. I so regret the fact that I cannot be with you on Christmas Eve, even as I know that Pastor Brad Wolff will take good care of you all. Rest assured that I will be thinking about you, and praying for you, from my little chapel in Manchester as I lead our three Christmas Eve services.
It is extraordinary, really, how we all long to gather and hear this magical story one more time, one we know by heart. A man and young woman, she heavy with child, travel from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem. There is a census, and they have traveled under imperial decree to be registered. It is a long and difficult journey. He walks; she rides the donkey. If they find an inn at the end of the day, they have food and shelter. If not, they stop by the side of the road and sleep under the stars. Finally, they arrive in Bethlehem. The inn is already full. The innkeeper allows them to spend the night out back in the cow stall. At least they will be warm. During the night the time comes. Labor begins. He helps. She births her baby, a son, and together they wrap him in the strips of clean cloth they have brought along, and after she nurses him, they place the infant gently in the feed box, a manger, to sleep.
It is a beautifully simple story about life at its most human.
Yet, the glory of this story—and the reason countless millions of people around the world will pause to hear it again even though they have heard it hundreds of times and know every detail by heart—the glory of it is that it is a story about God, God coming into the world; God revealed in a human life, as he worked and laughed and loved; God revealed as he taught and healed and challenged religious convention; God revealed as he reached out to touch the lives of all—his friends, their families, strangers and outcasts too, the rich and poor alike; God revealed in that man’s honest, strong, unconditional love; God revealed as he suffered and died for us.
The Christmas story is about a God who reigns not from a magnificent throne in a far-off corner of heaven, but from a stable in Bethlehem, a cross on Calvary, a table where bread was broken and wine shared and where all were welcome.
God comes that close to us. God meets us where we are. And He did it, and does it, all out of love. Love for you and for me.
Like Mary, I hope you ponder and treasure the beauty of this timeless story in your hearts during this coming season of Christmas.
In the meantime, however, we will conclude our season of Advent together this Sunday. I look forward to seeing you!
In Christ, Pastor Luther