During this wonderful season we seem to always look backward and never forward. That which happened in Bethlehem so long ago launched humanity into a story much larger than we could ever imagine. A good God is telling a good story with a good ending. May we never doubt that because Jesus came, all will be well in the end.
Kara Root, pastor of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, MN, describes it this way:
This moment.
A seemingly insignificant moment,
like millions of others:
a child enters the world.
His story: yet to be written.
But like every other story,
already written:
the child will grow, learn
will know love, loss, suffering, joy.
The child will become an adult.
And one day, the child will die.
The story of every human:
now God’s story.
The experience of every human:
now God’s experience.
Unlike any moment
creation and cosmos has ever witnessed:
Creator crossing the barrier
and entering its midst.
This moment
rips out the end of the human story
and rewrites it.
As we look forward (not just backward) this Christmas season, may our joy overflow remembering that in Christ we are part of that rewritten history.
Richard