Merry Christmas
Posted on 15Dec CATEGORIES: Newsletter
Fellow Redeemed,
Christmas is a joyous time of the year. It is the time when we contemplate the Virgin Birth. We see the love of God in the babe born in Bethlehem. It is the time when family and friends come together in celebration and fellowship. We see the lights and hear the hymns and sing the songs that are only really appropriate for Christmas. But behind the lights, sounds and songs there can be a somber side to the celebration.
I remember Christmas day, 2001. I was the Vicar at Messiah Lutheran Church in Tampa. I was given a vicarage in Tampa because my
mother had been battling cancer for about five years. On my days off, I would make the 180 mile trek to go see her and be with her. If you have ever cared for someone in the last stages of cancer, you know that it is a very ugly disease. Christmas that year was not like all of the other celebrations of our Savior’s birth. This one felt greyer than the others. At 10:30 in the morning on that Christmas day, I was preaching. I don’t remember the exact words that I had said. I do remember it being an uplifting moment for me, as preaching has always been that way for me. After the service was over, I went and checked my phone. My dad had left a voice mail letting me know that Mom was welcomed home to heaven. She had passed away right around 10:30. Denise and I rushed to Titusville, Florida. I don’t remember too much about that Christmas. I did find comfort in the realization that God loved my mother so much that He sent His Son to be born a man. God’s love for my mother continued in the sinless life that Jesus lived on her behalf. God’s unconditional love culminated in His death on the cross. And if that was not enough, God’s love continued for my mother in the empty tomb. Jesus
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
mother had been battling cancer for about five years. On my days off, I would make the 180 mile trek to go see her and be with her. If you have ever cared for someone in the last stages of cancer, you know that it is a very ugly disease. Christmas that year was not like all of the other celebrations of our Savior’s birth. This one felt greyer than the others. At 10:30 in the morning on that Christmas day, I was preaching. I don’t remember the exact words that I had said. I do remember it being an uplifting moment for me, as preaching has always been that way for me. After the service was over, I went and checked my phone. My dad had left a voice mail letting me know that Mom was welcomed home to heaven. She had passed away right around 10:30. Denise and I rushed to Titusville, Florida. I don’t remember too much about that Christmas. I did find comfort in the realization that God loved my mother so much that He sent His Son to be born a man. God’s love for my mother continued in the sinless life that Jesus lived on her behalf. God’s unconditional love culminated in His death on the cross. And if that was not enough, God’s love continued for my mother in the empty tomb. Jesus
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
My grey Christmas was transformed into something that I had so often missed. There has always been a joy on the front end of Christmas celebrations, but, I had missed the grey lining behind the birth of this babe in Bethlehem. He was born for one purpose, and one purpose only; that He might suffer and die to take away your sins, and my sins. This truth does not diminish the joy of the season. It is in fact the very reason for the joy that is our Christmas celebration.
There is not a Christmas that goes by, now, when I do not think of my mother. I give thanks to God that she knew Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. She knew that He came to take away her sins. She believed in Him and lived her life in service to Him. It is that faith that she passed on to me as her mini legacy. There you have it! Faith is the thing that makes Christmas, merry! So now I can say these words with a refocused joy.
Merry Christmas!