Pastor's Pen

As we pass through the days before Christmas, one word that cannot go unnoticed is “Believe”. Children want to know if you still “believe” in Santa, and sales flyers, t-shirts and sweaters among other things bear the word “believe” in bold print, and stylized fonts. Entire movies at this time of year have “belief” as their theme. Most often the theme is belief in Santa Claus, but sometimes there is the underlying theme of a deeper belief, a belief in Emmanuel, God with us; a belief without which St. Nicholas and his legend would have never existed.

Of course, movies such as “Miracle on 32nd Street” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” carried within them an assumption that God made the Christmas miracle happen. No one really questioned that assumption, that belief. Today however there is no automatic assumption about the God of Christmas. Christmas miracles are considered nostalgia; they have become part of the “myth” or legend of Christmas. Our “belief” has become watered down until it is no longer belief but rather some quaint notion that some how motivates people to be better humans for a brief period of time at the end of each year. The result is the possibility that we can have Christmas with no Christ in it at all.

Even though many of the movies of the season are centered on the possibility of Christmas not coming, due to bad weather, or Santa’s missing magic bag of gifts, or due to the lack of human belief, what Christians know to be true is that Christmas has already come. God has already chosen to come to us, regardless of our belief. In short, Christmas comes, God is among us and nothing we can do or not do is going to change that fact. My soul is filled with great joy and hope in that understanding.

In the Christmas story, the shepherds, and the magi come to believe because of the signs and wonders they saw. They came to believe because of the words of prophets, and because of traditions that spoke of how God would enter the world as messiah. Little children believe in Santa because somehow Santa brings them at least some of what they put on their wish list. Likewise, we come to believe in the God of the Christmas miracle through the words of prophets, and traditions that point us towards the recognition and understanding of the signs of God’s presence in our lives.

What is a danger for Christians is that along with watered down miracles, comes watered down faith. Our belief in God is weakened until it becomes a vague or quaint notion of a system that helps us be better humans instead of a faith that moves mountains. We too need to see signs and wonders in order to quicken our faith and so often we only see God’s hand at work in our lives through answered prayer. So in this time, when the world would give us every opportunity to believe less, what we really need is to pray more. We need to give God every occasion possible to be apparent and powerful in our homes, our communities, and our churches.

As you read this, Christmas will be past once again, and we will be facing a New Year. It is time for us to face the future unafraid, through the “belief” that God is truly among us and that God empowers us. And so that we can bring our faith to life I am calling Oak Hill Church to prayer. Beginning January, 12th, meet me at the altar at 6:00pm on Tuesdays for a brief time of prayer so that God might show us the miracles God has for us in 2010.

Believe and Live,
Wes

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