12/25/2025
This Christmas has easily been the hardest Christmas season that my family has endured. At 4 p.m. Christmas Eve, the previous 48 hours were draining and exhausting.
Many find this time of season to be hard. The loss of parents, the lack of family, the season screams loneliness for some, while being so warm for others.
BUT Christmas isn't about you and it's not about me. It's not about the good years and it's not about the bad ones either. It is about a true event, where the Lord of the Universe condescended. Wore humanity, becoming 100% divine and 100% man. Was born of the virgin Mary that He might be the one who knew no sin, that we might be called sons of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)! He was born that you might repent of your sins and be reconciled to a Holy God.
I am not invalidating your pain. I understand it. I merely am pointing to the truth. The Psalmist who screams "I feel this way Lord! But I know your truth, and I'm going to preach it to myself until I believe it truly, until I feel it truly".
This is Christmas. This is where God stepped into the earth that He might redeem a people unto Himself. There is hope in the suffering of the loss of loved ones, there is hope as you mourn the death of a child, there is hope as you feel the bitterness of loneliness whether because of your sin or circumstances beyond your control.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the beautiful poem "Christmas Bells" under a heart grieved with pain at the circumstances around him.
"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
There is peace and good-will because of what He has done.
In the tale A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge vows "I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!”. I pray that this is our hope this Christmas. When we live in the "Past, the Present, and the Future" we see with the eyes of God who is outside of time. We trust in His providence. We also see that the pain in the past or the present is being used by a loving Father for our good.
I can not tell you what a blessing it is to be a pastor at this church. It is a privilege I do not deserve apart from His mercy and grace. May you all have a Merry Christmas as we celebrate the King who condescended that we might be redeemed!
Pastor Nathan Johnson
