Christmas, 2010

[Dr. Manuel recently provided me with the Christmas letters he and his wife Linda have sent each year since 2001.
One of the annual letters will be posted each day over a two week period.]

Dr. and Mrs. Paul Manuel

Christmas 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

As you think back over the past year, much of what you did was probably familiar. You worked at the same job, interacted with the same people, watched the same TV shows. Nevertheless, you may also have rediscovered something you appreciated earlier in life but allowed to lapse at some point. That is, in part, what this past year has held for me. I renewed in earnest an activity that occupied much of my youth but that fell by the wayside during my extended time in graduate school—playing the trombone. While recovering the tone and control I once had has been challenging, it has been well worth the effort. (To my surprise, some in church have actually had positive things to say after I have played, although I suspect their compliments were more for my accompanist, Katrina, than for me.) There can be great satisfaction in reviewing and retrieving the past.

The same may be true for Christmas. Much of what you do is probably familiar. You shop at the same stores, put up the same decorations, eat the same foods. Nevertheless, you may also rediscover something about the holiday you appreciated earlier in life but allowed to lapse at some point, perhaps a favorite recipe or a childhood tradition. Whatever it might be, there can be great satisfaction in reviewing and retrieving the past.

The apostle Paul, writing to believers at Ephesus, reviews for them something about Jesus' advent they may have allowed to fade from their thinking. While not involved in holiday preparation, these Christians might have been preoccupied by the regular activity that attends a major cultural and commercial center like Ephesus. For whatever reason, Paul considers it necessary to remind them about something they appreciated more earlier in life but allowed to lapse at some point, and he brings it to the fore.

Remember that...you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. (Eph 2:12-13)

Whatever else may be happening in their lives at this time, the apostle does not want his readers to forget the fundamental event that changed their lives. Jesus' advent and his eventual sacrifice brought hope to their otherwise hopeless situation, and that is certainly worth remembering.

Because of the familiar things you may be doing this Christmas—shopping, decorating, eating—the fundamental reason for the holiday might lapse from your thinking, something you appreciated more earlier in life. Bring it to the fore: Remember how Jesus' advent and his eventual sacrifice brought hope to your otherwise hopeless situation. There can be great satisfaction in reviewing and retrieving the past. We pray that this season will renew your hope in the great God we serve.

Pastor and Linda