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Minister’s Christmas Message – 2009
In a world that feels like it has gone out of control with wars, recession, slow and partial recovery and various acts of human desperation, Christmas comes again to remind us that God is sovereign over the whole Universe.
Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is all about acknowledging the incarnation of God. God came into the world humbly in the form of a peasant’s infant child. Born in the open air on a winter night, and covered up with hay in a feeding trough to keep warm! Think of the timeless Christmas Carols that tell the story. “It Came upon A Midnight Clear”, “Silent Night”, “Away In A Manger”, “Hark The Herald Angels Sing”, and “Joy to the World”. They all tell of a King that makes a humble and gentle entry into the world.
The currency of the world is power and might and domination by force, all of which produce anxiety, worry and control. But, the Prince of Peace has come to bring calm, gentle order, peace and hope and freedom. What a difference!
Dear friends, this Advent and Christmas season, as you ponder what it means that God is with us in Jesus Christ, I have this wish for you. I have this traditional Christmas image of you carrying all your worldly anxieties and worries in the form of a Yule log, and placing it in the crackling fire place. And then I see you sitting down in a comfortable, over-stuffed easy chair right between the fire place and Christmas tree, and your heart becoming lighter and mind becoming clearer as all those anxieties and worries go up the chimney in smoke.
The baby Jesus is also the Risen Saviour who enters your heart to lift your burdens. And I picture the worried furrows in your brow being transformed into laugh lines around your eyes, and a happy smile. Yes friends, my Christmas wish for you is peace and joy in the heart, and a time to lay your burdens down and take a rest in the presence of the One who loves you so much, he came into the frantic world to bring you peace.
Be at peace this season, by the fireplace, by the Christmas tree, at the dinner table, and of course in the church pew!
Have a Merry and Very Blessed Christmas!
Rev. Rick Burgess | 
