Home for Christmas
Home for Christmas
The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to get smaller each year and there is a sense of urgency to get things done. We’re recovering from the food coma Thanksgiving brings, rallying our presents, and preparing to gather with family. I mean, for some of us, Christmas decorations start after Halloween! Regardless of when you decorate for Christmas, my point is, this time of year happens to be filled with urgency.
Christmas is a time known and defined by a Trinitarian peace which all started with a child. If we sit and observe everything around us, we will quickly find anything but peace.
Don’t get me wrong, I love walking into stores around Christmas time and seeing all the beautiful decorations and incredible music. There is so much excitement in the air, like the feeling you get the day before going on a big vacation. Imagine you had a dream vacation planned and it’s the day before you leave. You must focus on getting things done to enjoy your vacation. There is excitement and you feel a buzz inside, but you also are incredibly busy, rushing to get everything done. In this state of mind, it’s incredibly difficult to experience peace.
Maybe you’re in a different place. Maybe Christmas for you is filled with loss. When you go into a store and see all the decorations and music, all it brings is more pain, anger, or sadness. Christmas is not positive for all of us. Many of us struggle around this time because there is one less person at the table, or, as a child, Christmas was always a negative experience.
At Faith Church this year, we want to flip the script for you. We want to call us all back to peace. Christmas started with peace created by a child in a manger. This Christmas, what would it look like for you to rest in the peace provided by your Heavenly Father? It doesn’t matter whether Christmas 2022 is positive or negative for you. What matters is God is a God of peace and wants us all to experience peace.
This month, Faith Church is doing a four-week Christmas series on the specific names of God. We will be teaching from a small passage from the book of Isaiah. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6, NIV). Originally, this passage was provided in a time of war when everyone was desperate for hope. Today, we are in the middle of a war, and we need hope more than ever.
This is our hope for you this Christmas, that you will find God’s peace and make God’s peace your home. So, I want to welcome you back home, to God’s peace that started with Jesus in a manger.
You don’t want to miss this Christmas series. More importantly, you don’t want to miss experiencing more of God’s peace. Please join us this year as we begin our new Christmas series Home for Christmas.
