Christmas has always been a family
affair. Two thousand years ago, two thousand miles from here, our Father which
art in heaven sent His one and only son so that we might be adopted into the
family of God.
The first time I heard the Christmas
story it was from my parents, and what made me listen wasn’t so much what they
said, but how they said it. They sat my sisters and I down in the living room,
looked us in the eye, and told us that Jesus was God’s special Christmas gift
to us. “Once upon a time,” they said, “a long, long time ago, in a far away place
called Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph made their way through the dark of night. And
now Mary was pregnant, great with child, and when the time came for the child
to be born, she gave birth to a son and they called his name Jesus, because he
would save his people. And that’s us,” they said, “we are God’s people, we’re
part of His family.”
The told us all about the shepherds,
and the angels, and the magi, and the star, and we could tell that they
believed it deeply, and so we believed it too. My guess is that you could tell
a similar story because faith is very often passed down from one generation to
the next.
Families were always part of God’s
plan. We’re supposed to learn from those who are older, and teach those who are
younger, and even when we find ourselves neck-deep in the darkness we’re never
alone because we can count on them, and we can count on God, no matter what.
Nothing’s better when it works out
like it’s supposed to, and nothing’s worse when it doesn’t. Alcoholism,
addiction, abandonment, and abuse are all too common in the world today, and at
Belay we work with the kids who live in the fall out of all that. A few weeks ago, my dad gave the talk
at Tuesday’s club, and he used the parables of the lost coin, the lost sheep,
and the lost boy to talk about families and the family of God. Afterwards, I noticed
that Roberto was crying and when I talked with him one on one he told me that
his father had walked out on the family. I listened to his story and assured him that his Father in
heaven loved him, and was always there for him, and then we prayed together.
There are many far too many Robertos
each week at Belay. We listen, we love, we teach, and then we get a chance to
share the love of Jesus with a lost and broken world. As we enter this Christmas
Season I wanted to thank you for partnering with me in this ministry, and wish
you and your family a very Merry Christmas!
Kate
For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the
Lord!” Luke 2:11
