Messenger December 2007 Page 1

I've heard many wise people say it. I think it is true. The problem for the church is amnesia. We have forgotten so
much. A long time ago, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said
that if there is one thing that unites us, it is our forgetting how much we have been loved. Love is the core of Christmas. God's love for us.

For Christians, this whole season is an attempt to remind ourselves of what we ought to hold most true. Because as we learn to hold God's love at the center of our lives, then everything else has the glow of hope. As the gospel of John says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

The baby Jesus is the reality of God's love, shown in vulnerability. The Christ Child reminds us this is the way of love. It is about receptivity and openness  to the gifts of love God gives us. As I write this, my wife Parrish is watching the young child of some friends. When I came home for  lunch, I saw her delightfully follow  him from room to room. From time  to time, he would discover some  new object--a blue building block,  a plastic toy dragon fly, the rocking horse. And  although, he did not yet have the gift of comprehensible speech, still he talked to everything. He was connected, delighted and he was one with his universe.

I think God wants us to be like that--able to live with a sense of wonder. Parrish and I send our wish for you this Christmas season - may you remember how much you are loved by the one who watches over us everyday. Merry Christmas!

Warmly,

Andrew McDonald
Senior Pastor