Pastor’s Christmas Letter -2009

 

The Christmas season offers us a unique opportunity for reflection.  The story of Mary and Joseph found in the first chapter of Luke is heart-warming and miraculous.  The gospels present a very deliberate exchange between the angel Gabriel and Mary; the angel informs Mary that she has found favor with God, and that she will conceive and give birth to a son, Jesus, in whose kingdom there will be no end.  As familiar as this passage is to our liturgy this time of the year, it continues to have the power to stop us in our tracks, asking, “How often does God ask the impossible of us?  Is there any reason or predictability to when or how we find favor with the Lord?” As I cling to a truly inspiring hope in these sacred moments between the angel and Mary, I also wonder how I respond when the Lord asks the impossible of me? 

 

The longer I spend praying through and meditating on this scripture, the more I believe the truly inspired moments come when we are most prepared and least expect them.  We all remember the U.S. Airways flight 1549’s successful emergency landing in the Hudson River this past January.  We can certainly imagine that day began as usual and routine for all aboard, and yet ended as life changing for everyone.  I still remember the captain saying in an interview in Air& Space Magazine that his preparation for that decisive moment came through his successfully completed flights and training hours:  “The way I describe this whole experience . . . is that everything I had done in my career had in some way been a preparation for that moment.” 

 

As a Christian congregation worshipping and celebrating the power and glory of Almighty God, I want to encourage us that every day of our Christian life matters.  Even though every day does not feel decisive and extraordinary, each and every day is filled with moments that further prepare us to hear and respond to the call of God in our life.  There may not be predictability to when or how we find favor with the Lord, but as the crown of creation, we do.  And this is sufficient for all of us to believe that we too, have a part to play in God’s plan of making the impossible – possible.