December Newsletter Article

Let's Hope So.


Having a baby changes everything.  How quickly you realize this when your child needs nearly everything done for it.  They are helpless and in need of food, warmth, shelter, love, burped, changed, food, burped, changed...you get the picture.  They are one of the most helpless species when they are born.  They can't walk, they don't see very good and they have no teeth (good thing) or defenses.  Kate has been a blessing and it is still amazing to just look at her and be awestruck at the miracle of life.

This is why it is such a paradox that we find Jesus coming to Earth in this manner.  The Son of God, coming from Heaven to Earth not with might and strength.  Not with majesty or fanfare.  Not with an Army to overthrow or a delegation to persuade.  When he came he couldn't even speak.  Couldn't eat by himself.  How much did he love us to come like this for a people who where not getting it?  How much grace did the Father give us, a people who were still sinners, by sending Jesus to us?  I think that the Christmas Carol, "O Holy Night" says what Christmas is all about in a few short lines.

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease. "
                                                         -Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure

          It had been a long time since God created the world and a long time since Adam and Eve broke the bond that was created in the Garden of Eden.  God had seen enough to know that we needed a Savior.  One that could give us what we so desperately needed: hope!  We needed a hope that all the things that enslave us and hold us down could be broken.  We needed a hope that our relationship with the Creator of the universe could be restored in a deeper manner than a simple blood offering.  We needed a hope that came in a helpless baby to a hopeless world that was searching for something better. 
         
          This world will make you feel that things are hopeless.  All the voices in our world would like to tell you to panic and you need to worry about this or that.  That things look bleak.  However, this Christmas season, for those who know Christ and the power of His resurrection, we are not hopeless. We are not helpless.  We have a hope and a future.  We have someone who is our advocate with the Father.  Our hope came in the form of a little baby, without much fanfare, without a bed, without his family nearby, without much money, without many visitors and without much comfort. 
       
          So this Christmas season, may you come to see that wherever this year finds you, in good circumstances or some tough ones, that there was a very holy night that brought us a "Thrill of Hope!"  May you come to see that even though you may be weary and bound by chains of sin or worry or guilt, you have a chance for hope.  May you come near to the heart of Jesus this Christmas season and come close to the only one who can give us the hope that we need! 

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

                                                                                   -Hebrews 10:23