Finding the missing pieces in our holidays

     Happy Holidays. As we pass through Thanksgiving, with a thankful heart, we enter the season of advent. This is a season of hope, a season of joy, a season of peace, a season of love and a time to celebrate  the birth of Jesus. Although not all of us share these feelings, we can all start advent off with hope; Hope of the coming King. As holiday shopping takes away some of the peace and joy we feel or family issues leave us without hope or feeling unloved, we can still find these things through the power of the Holy Spirit.
       During the advent season, we will be doing a series called “Missing Pieces”. In it we will look at the lives of Mary, Joseph, Zachariah and Elizabeth, and the shepherds as real people that were living life just like we are. The first week Pastor James will help us look at Mary and the reality of being a “pregnant virgin”. Just imagine all the anxiety she must have been facing with all the voices in her life. We see how she finds Hope while being afraid.
     On week two we will then look at Joseph as he finds love while feeling betrayed. Put yourself in his shoes as he hears from his fiancé that she was pregnant by God. We will look at all the external factors in his life that drove him to doubt and question Mary’s fidelity. An angelic visit kept him from hiding Mary away and instead moving forward with the relationship. Through it all, he finds love through his beloved and from God and realizes that bigger things are at work. Imagine responding to betrayal with love… how would that change your Christmas season.
     On week three, I will be preaching on Zechariah and Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist. Some of you may be thinking at this point,” hey, this is out of order for advent”. You’re right. This is a special sermon as we look at the coupe finding joy while feeling forgotten. The reason we are doing this out of order is that I will be gone for the first two weeks and I want to preach this sermon as this is a series, I started in 2016 and was the sermon I preached the day Kylie passed. It turns out that the sermon was for me and I didn’t even know it.
      Christmas Sunday we will look at the event from the eyes of the shepherds, from the eyes of the outcasts in those days. We will look at how they found peace even though they felt excluded and alone. For many the holidays are a great time of family renewal, for others it reminds them of how alone they feel. Just like the shepherds, they are not alone as God is always with us, pronouncing the good news of the savior being born through his angels and then through the shepherds.
       I hope you have a wonderful Holiday season and can find the things missing in your life. On behalf of Dana and myself, Happy Holidays and good tidings of comfort and joy that the Holy Spirit provides. We hope that through God, you can find the missing pieces of the advent season in your life.

Pastor Chad

---