This should be a unique Christmas, all right!

I'll be helping to officiate at a funeral on Christmas Eve morning in our worship center, then two Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion services that evening.  Christmas morning should follow, with its sharing of gifts and excitement.  I can't remember having such an array of experiences in a 24-hour period.  It will definitely be different.

If I have the chance to stop and consider it, I'll have the opportunity to celebrate the spectrum of my faith.  It might seem to some to be out of order to discuss the death of a loved one and the hope God promises us, then the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus himself and what my remembrance of those events does for me daily, then the birth of God's Son and the glory of God in the gift of peace to all.  It is however, what we all sooner or later must learn how to blend and understand.

I live among a people who are dying and it sooner or later will come close to me in the passing of those closest to me.  My wife's father passed a fewdyears ago and we miss him every Christmas, especially as we gather for a family tradtional meal he initiated.  Her mother and my own parents are aging daily.  Christmas always includes God's gift of life in the midst of lives that are either passed from earth or fading in their glory.  So, it is good to consider that He who can bring life without use of a man if He so desires can surely give life to me.  It is my faith that what He has promised in "His only begotten son" He can do for me (John 3:16).   Life continues to be God's business alone.

Carols in candlelight around the Lord's Supper table always reminds me that the story that begins at the stable is one that includes a cross and an empty tomb.  That also may seem like a subject out of sync with the season until you remember that it is a truly glory-filled event.  The memory of it helps me keep my life in balance with thanksgiving.  I believe life is lived most effectively if I am grateful for all God has done for me in His love and provision, from Exodus through Calvary.  The one who gave manna in the desert gives a body that will be broken, but only to give life more fully.  Living gratefully is easiest for me through a regular Remembrance of His love and great actions for me.  My confidence in His promises is couched in His past fulfillment as well as His character.  He has indeed done "great things for me" as He has for Mary.  I can certainly continue to believe what He has still promised to do!  (Luke 1:37)

I now look forward through the prism of the person who has lived among us and "been tempted in every sense, just as we have" and am following this Christ child grown into a man.  My life is merely an attempt to follow Him and to imitate His character.  How I praise God for sending His Son, through whom we have been given a shepherd for our days here and into eternity.  We can truly say with Simeon the praises of seeing God's salvation.  As John will later say it so well, "we do not yet know what we will be, but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him" (1 John 3:2).  What we have seen is worthy of the praises of angels and wise men before a stable trough.  I can't wait to see what's next!  Tear off the tinsel on today - tomorrow's going to be even better!

It's going to be a unique - a wonderful Christmas.  I'm looking forward to every minute.

May You Have A Blessed Christmas and Sense His Touch Also in The Coming Year,

Kevin McCallon