This Year I Need Christmas!

More than ever before, I really need Christmas.

Yesterday I watched the shocking video of a young assassin shooting a Russian ambassador. The killer defiantly yelled terroristic threats while waving his gun.

A truck barreled into hundreds of shoppers at a Berlin outdoor Christmas market. Twelve people were slaughtered. Another fifty were injured and traumatized.

I keep seeing images of busloads of refugees being removed from Aleppo, Syria. Many are orphans whose parents were killed in the battle for control of their country.

And then my mind can drift to so many places: Orlando, Sandy Hook, Chattanooga, San Bernardino, Paris, Nice, Brussels… and Bethlehem.

Thank goodness for Bethlehem. A star. A stable. A manger.

I’m so thankful for Christmas. It reminds me that God knows of our struggle with sin and brokenness. God knows, and He does something about. He places Himself right in the middle of it.

God dives into our mess by incarnating Himself. He takes on flesh and experiences what you and I experience. Jesus is born to shoulder the mess so He can fix it.

Henri Nouwen once confessed that he had developed a resistance to living a joyful life. He writes, “Somehow I have become accustomed to living with sadness, and so have lost the eyes to see the joy and the ears to hear the gladness that belongs to God and which is to be found in the hidden corners of the world.”

So often, I can miss the joy at Christmas. The lights and cookies and mall madness can mask the joy of the good news of Jesus’s coming to redeem and restore me (us) from the mess. I’m not sure how I would live without this good news.

I’m so glad it’s Christmas.

Tomorrow night, Christmas Eve, we will creatively, artistically, and verbally proclaim the good news of Jesus’s coming. I trust that you, your family, and friends will come to reclaim some of the joy that gets lost in our western celebration of Christmas.

Will you join me in prayer for the power of the Gospel to move on Christmas Eve? I’ve been praying all week that our Chick-Fil-A invitation cards are working and drawing people to the Messiah. I can’t wait to celebrate with you all at our Christmas Eve services at 3:00 and 4:30 p.m.

Merry Christmas from all of the Scotts (and Coxes and soon to be Bankses)

Weekly Giving | 12.18.16

$73,557.62

Weekly Need $39,700.00