Pastor's Weekly Word

By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)

Have you ever had someone sneak up behind you without you knowing it, and they put their hands over your eyes and ask you to guess who? You try to guess and are completely surprised to find out who it actually is.

This is the style of the beginning of Luke’s gospel. Luke quietly sneaks up on us with the good news of Jesus Christ. Of all four gospels, Luke easily has the longest advent story. He tells not one, but two birth announcement stories, followed by two birth stories. He also tells about the shepherds in the field. With each little tale, Luke slowly sneaks up behind us with God’s great incarnation surprise. To read the first chapter of Luke is to be massaged into the wonder of Christmas in a found nowhere else. By the time you get to the first verse of chapter 2, Luke is standing behind you with his hands over your eyes and whispering, “Guess who?”                

Then you open your eyes, and the first words you see are these, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” May this week do what Luke does so well and sneak into your heart with the joy of Christ’s birth.