Hello Ren family!
Since many of you are traveling and were not able to attend the Christmas Eve service, I thought you might be blessed to read my Christmas Eve letter on this Christmas Day. I wrote it yesterday morning.
What a gift today to wake up to snow covering everything right before Christmas! I’m writing this letter to you from my home study. I’m sitting at a small maple desk with a beautiful vintage ceramic Christmas tree with colored lights practically touching the right side of my notebook. To my left is, of course, a large cup of coffee in my new LL Bean mug. My daughter brought home a pound of coffee from her trip to Boston recently. The coffee is maybe the best I’ve had all year. When making my pour over this morning the coffee bloomed up dramatically as soon as the water hit the ground beans. That means it’s really fresh.
I’m so happy to have both of my daughters, Taylor and Madeline, with us for Christmas. The plan was to head through the snowy country roads Christmas morning to visit my family and then Tiffany’s mom. Since Tiff’s mom is almost 80 and my parents are in their 70s, we decided to get tested for Covid to be safe. Taylor, my older daughter (24) had plans also to travel to California right after Christmas to spend time with her boyfriend Jonathan’s parents.
Well, as you probably guessed, Taylor got Covid on her trip to Boston. She’s pretty sick today but certainly could be a lot worse. So, we are all shut away together in our very tiny house—and the three of us who tested negative are trying and hoping not to get Covid. It will literally be a Christmas miracle if we don’t get it living together in this shoebox dwelling. Please cover us in your prayers.
And so, that’s why I’m not present with you tonight on Christmas Eve. I feel a little like Paul the Apostle writing an epistle to the church from prison. Not that my house is like a prison—not at all—but I can relate to Paul being prevented by circumstances from gathering together with the people of God he loved so dearly.
Sorrowful yet always rejoicing
These kinds of afflictions never stopped Paul from rejoicing though. He described himself in one letter as “sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” As Christians, we are not exempt from suffering. During this pandemic I’ve watched so many in the church bear all kinds of sorrow: loss of loved ones, friends who fell back into drugs, people we love who overdosed, bouts with anxiety and/or depression, isolation and loneliness, miscarriages, gall bladder attacks, cancer, loss of employment and financial hardship, and 1000 other things. Only God can measure our sorrows. For some of us, the last year could be described as a “dark night of the soul.”
Despite all these things we rejoice. The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter five, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
A Savior has come!
We know that 2000 years ago something happened that enables us to rejoice now—even if the earth gives way. God wrapped Himself in human form and appeared in a small town called Bethlehem; He was born of a humble virgin girl named Mary. The coming of Jesus the Messiah was anticipated for thousands of years by the Jews. Prophets like Isaiah foretold One who would be born and bring light into the world. Because Christ came, and accomplished exactly what He came to do, we can rejoice even while we carry sorrows.
Jesus came for this primary reason: to die. He came to take upon Himself all our sin and guilt and shame—and to take the punishment for sin in our stead. In other words, He paid the ransom for our pardon. In the perfect just and holy government of God there was no other way. The innocent Lamb of God was slaughtered on a cross to make payment for our sin. It is finished. The work of redemption is done.
Children of God
We rejoice this Christmas because the mountain of debt we carried because of our sin has been cancelled. We are forgiven. We are no longer dead in sin but alive in Christ. We are no longer enemies of God but friends; we are beloved sons and daughters.
Blessed assurance
We are no longer afraid to die but now enjoy “blessed assurance.” We know that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” and “death has lost its sting.” We used to be terrified of the idea of standing before God, but now we have confidence thinking about the Day of Judgment because we have an Advocate, Jesus, The Righteous One.
Romans 8:28
We rejoice even in our sufferings because we know that all things—even the worst things—work together for our good. Nothing is wasted. God takes all of the mess and puts it together for our highest good. He is shaping us and preparing us for eternity.
I will be with you
He promised that in this present world we would face trouble. But He said, “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” Even in sorrow, even in loss, even in the valley of the shadow of death—we rejoice!—because He is with us. He will never let us go. God says through His prophet Isaiah:
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Isaiah 43:2
He is an ever-present help in trouble. He is our defender and protector. He is the Shepherd that guides and comforts. He is the Friend who sticks closer than a brother. The Lord God is crazy about His children—jealous, passionate, affectionate. We are the apple of His eye. He rages against all that rages against us.
Future glory
Perhaps the greatest reason we can rejoice in sorrow is that we know with fiery, full conviction that this troublesome life is a blip. That we are like the flowers of the field that pop up in the morning and by the evening are withered. Our time on earth is described as a “light momentary affliction.” It’s why Paul said this in his letter to the Corinthians:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18
“The glory that is to be!” The glory that is coming soon! The present sinful rotten decaying state of things is passing away. Christ is making all things new! We know that He is preparing a place for us. It’s a city whose designer and builder is God Himself. It is a city with no church and no temples—because they aren’t needed. God Himself will be present everywhere. We shall see His lovely face shining upon us like the light of 10,000 suns.
There will be no more sin, no more sorrow, no more sickness, and no more pain. There will be no more death and no more war. No more pandemics. No more injustice. No more racism or capitalism. No more oppression of the poor, and no more poverty. No more bad days or bad years. Troubles will cease, and all will be at rest. There will be no need for artificial light or even light from the sun or moon. God Himself will light up the whole city with His presence. The doors of the city will remain open always which signifies safety. This is our destination!
We rejoice today even in our sorrow because nothing and nobody can take away our place in that glorious city. Our citizenship is fixed, our names are written in the Book, our exact address and assignment in that future city of joy has been determined.
Remember
So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I can’t give you a job or fix your financial problem, I can’t take away your past trauma or remove the pain assailing your body. I can’t change your circumstances. But what I can do is remind you that even if you are presently poor and afflicted, you are rich and blessed beyond measure because you know Christ. You have the Indescribable Gift. The Day will come when all of life’s sorrow will be behind you, and you’ll be enveloped forever in the blazing love and goodness of God’s everlasting kingdom.
May you be comforted by these truths. And may your Christmas be joyful.
— Pastor Scott