The First Christmas

December 23, 2008

"Reflecting on Matt 1:18-25, I am reminded afresh of the power of God’s inconvenient, incomprehensible grace in Immanuel.  A rebuke comes to us in view of the overly-sentimentalized, nostalgic lenses we often wear when considering the first Christmas.  Any serious consideration of these verses, however, points to chaos -- chaos in the lives of Joseph and Mary that was profound and no doubt unwanted.  Into that chaos came the power of the incarnate One whose fulfillment of the God-with-us promise of Scripture brought transcendent peace, resolution, and hope to the chaos of our human hearts.  May that inconvenient, incomprehensible, and incarnate grace be yours in full this Christmas season." - Rev. Dr. David B. Garner

Hear the Christmas sermon.