2013 Pastor's Christmas Letter

The Unexpected Life

  One of the amazing aspects of the Christmas story is how it unfolds so… unexpectedly. Mary obviously knew she was expecting a baby, but she never anticipated her first child would be born so far from home, let alone in a stable. And then there’s Joseph. He always expected to marry, but a child first? That wasn’t in his plans! And, of course, neither of them could have imagined the ridicule and rejection they would receive when they tried to convince friends and family that an angel really did appear…   Then there’s the Magi, hundreds of miles away from Bethlehem, who were so full of excitement and adventure when the star first appeared in the eastern sky. They set out eagerly, not really knowing why or where they were going… And, when they finally did arrive, there were no trappings of royalty or power, but a simple family in an out of the way little town of no real importance.  It was all so, well – unexpected.   And what about the shepherds, to whom the angels had been sent to proclaim the mystery of the ages? The last thing these ranch hands were thinking about that night was angels.  Yet the most important message God ever sent to humanity, He entrusted to them. That’s a little weird. It seems all so, well you guessed it – unexpected.   Today, you and I live within predictable rhythms… trying to keep the unexpected at a safe, comfortable distance. I dislike unexpected interruptions as much as you do, yet without them my life tends to becomes sterile, cold and empty.  My Christmas prayer for us is that God will find a way to enter into the cold and dark ‘rhythm’ of our lives and reveal a Kingdom that is beyond our expectations, filled with adventure, excitement and wonder.   And then there was a Church, to whom God entrusted this message of joy, hope and love and through whom the unexpected would be lived and shared. We are those people, united in our pursuit of the unexpected, the miraculous and the life-changing. Since we are disciples of the unexpected, we should not be shocked when it arrives and we certainly should not be troubled when God asks it of us. People of faith have always looked for the unexpected as a sure sign that the Spirit of God was on the move. And that’s precisely what I love about this church, our willingness to stretch our faith in new, challenging ways, our desire to reach out to a sleepy world regardless of where that takes us and to embrace the unexpected as a gift from God. This is the Christmas I know!   Unfortunately, there are those in our neighborhoods, and even in our own church, for whom the unexpected joy of Christmas will still be, well – unexpected.  I wonder if you will help us this year rise up and be ‘imitators of God’ (Ephesians 5:1) by giving some unexpected grace from heaven’s storehouse to those waiting for a bit of unexpected good news. Our mission is simple, we make a difference in people’s lives with the unexpected gift of Jesus Christ. Like a knock on a door, the unexpected came at Christmas, and it still does.  

Merry Christmas,

Rev. Dr. Steve Gedon