Pastor Note for
December/Janaury 2025

Nothing quite captures our imaginations like the Christmas story. We think of the star rising in the sky, the young couple making their way to Bethlehem with Mary riding on a donkey, angels, wise men, shepherds, animals, and even the weather. This picture of Christmas shaped by imagination and art, however, is likely far removed from fact. The cast of characters is both embellished and a conglomeration of different versions of the events. Even the date is one of speculation likely established to replace other pagan festivals of the season.

Does that mean we become skeptics of Christmas or that the story and events lose any of their insights and potency? In fact, this incredible fascination and interest is an effort to reveal something so mysterious and beyond normal that it represents an effort to try and describe the indescribable. Maybe that means a little hyperbole has been woven into it, but honestly how can one possibly describe the incredible vulnerability of God’s love that to grow requires the care and nurture of parents and created community when it has been turned out into the cold by the culture? How does one describe that which can open treasures and commitments in new possibilities? How can one describe a new way, a new light by which to see the world? How does one explain people others had rejected forming a community of connections on the hillsides singing songs and amazed that they could know love and belonging? And so, like Mary, we ponder it all in our hearts (Luke 2:19) as we gather annually to try and make sense out of what our ears hear, our imaginations see, and our hearts welcome – that God so loved the world …

Yours in Christ, 

Rev. Daven Oskvig