Pastor Note for
December 2023/January 2024

While many reasons could explain the popularity of Christmas, perhaps the best is the appeal to lose ourselves in mystery. Among the twinkle of lights and anticipation of Christmas morning, the baking and cooking smells only present at this time of the year, memories of the past resurface alongside the creation of new ones in the present, while we hope for what is yet to come. The events of Bethlehem as the basis of our celebrations mix into all this as something outside the bounds of both human experience and explanation setting the tone for our experience.

This should not come just as an escape into the scene of the nativity, but the meaning of the creator of the cosmos coming in human form for the purpose of setting right all that has gone terribly wrong. As Laurence Hull Stookey writes, “Divinity takes on humanity, to restore the image of God implanted at creation but sullied by sin.” In other words, God becomes like us so that we may become like God. God will accept death that we might accept life. Our wonder and awe should be stirred by the Lord, who can neither be created nor destroyed, becoming subject to both birth and death. Our worship seeks to hold us in this state. The story which so captures and captivates our imaginations; the hymns we sing out of memory and familiarity; communion where we receive Christ again; and the sharing of light as our light is restored in Christ’s birth. It is a reminder that God still comes to us in humble guises – human words, songs, the dance of candlelight, in bread and cup. These worship experiences clue us in to how we will discover Christ in our midst in all kinds of other seemingly ordinary circumstances when we allow that light to illuminate our lives, our ways.

Christmas is our commemoration of this incredible mystery. We recall the historic reality, but also mark that the Eternal Word once again appears in our midst. So let the lights twinkle! Let the baking and preparations begin! Let the decorations be hung and songs be sung! For God comes to us that we may be able to come to God. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.”

Yours in Christ, 

Rev. Daven Oskvig