WHAT'S TO LIKE ABOUT CHRISTMAS?

Dear Friends,

Many people in Ottawa are worried about the Omicron variant. When I come to visit our ministry space, I notice far more people wearing their masks as they walk around outside. Public Health is reintroducing restrictions. I won't tell you any more bad news. If you want bad news, listen/watch/read your favorite Canadian media and you will get a steady stream of bad news.

In the face of such times, what is there to like about Christmas? Why do I appreciate the Christmas story? What is in that simple story that we can and should ponder and treasure? I will share a handful in this short blog. I will share other thoughts in my Christmas Eve and Christmas morning sermons.

First, I am grateful that the stories of Jesus' birth are true. As true as the fact that Justin Trudeau is Prime Minister of Canada. It seems as if we increasingly live in a "post-truth" society, where what matters is what certain groups claim as their "truth," a "truth" you must accept. But the Bible stories remind you that true truth is what your mind and heart needs to live and flourish. The simple language of the Bible stories is not the language of symbol, vision, metaphor, or myth. It is the simple historical language of someone telling you the truth, what is real. So, in a world full of spin, I love the simple truth of the Bible stories about the birth of Jesus.

Second, I am grateful that the true story of the birth of Jesus centers on a real miracle by the Triune God. If you could go back in time with a futuristic technology that can "see" into the womb, then what you would see is exactly like Luke 1:26-38 tells you. The Angel speaks on God's behalf. An offer is made to a young unmarried woman who had never "known" a man. Mary says "Yes" to God. Your machine would show that there is no Zygote in the womb, but with Mary's "Yes" a zygote attached to the uterus is there. A miracle. An act of creation by the Triune God - who alone created and sustains all things. I love the reminder at Christmas that the Triune God is not shut out of His creation, nor has He abandoned it. He can, and still does, work miraculously in His creation.

Third, I am grateful that the birth of Jesus feeds my heart's need for meaning. You long to know the truth about the world, but unless the world is completely locked in cause and effect (and therefore life is irretrievably absurd), the truth has to include words. Not just any words, but words that tell you the truth about what happened; words that tell you the truth about why God did what He did; truth about why that matters to an ordinary person like you. The Triune God speaks, and my mind will never fully exhaust pondering what He says and what He did. God Himself speaks simply of creation and of Himself as Word and Father and Spirit (yet one God) and the nature of the fall and of His taking on flesh that you who are infected by deep darkness might have a life from above when you receive the Word made flesh. He speaks of God saving and God being with us. He speaks directly and through angels. The Triune God speaks, and a never ending stream of meaning to ponder and treasure flows.

Fourth, I am grateful that the stories of the birth of Jesus are so simple that a little child can love them, and yet so profound that even the greatest thinkers, poets, painters, and musicians can plunge into them again and again and always be refreshed and find more.

Fifth, I am grateful that there is no cross without the manger. He came among a fallen humanity to save you, and all who receive Him. He is Immanuel. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the humble manger born and cruelly crucified Saviour.

Merry Christmas

George+