Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
 
As the days get shorter, and the temperatures drop, even if it’s just by a few degrees, Christmas gets closer and closer. Our Savior is coming, a bare child, wrapped in rags, nestled amongst hay, laying in a feeding trough. For our lives today, and maybe even for the lives of all sinners, God’s plan of salvation for humanity seems silly, and maybe even hopeless. A useless answer to the situation we are living in. COVID is still ravaging our communities, and maybe even your own family has been affected by it as well. Death, the loss of a job or income, or even just the isolation that comes when people fail to meet together, they all pull us away from Jesus. The holidays, Christmas and New Year’s, they seem to be a little less full of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love this year, don’t they?

            Malachi 3:7 says “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’” and right now, in the middle of COVID, you may be asking yourself, “How will we return back to normal? How will my life ever be the same? How will we ever recover from this? How will I return to the hope I have in Christ?” As the world wanders about, afraid of the future, and awaiting the end of this horrible virus, Christmas is still getting closer and closer. And Jesus promises you: “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O Children of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6).

            This Advent, and maybe especially during it’s third week, we remember the Joy that Christ has given us, not only through his birth, but through the many promises that He gives. The promise of everlasting life. The promises of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. The promise of forgiveness. And the promise of Family, the Body of Christ. Jesus is the Lord who does not change, and because of that, what He promises you remains true forever. As Advent comes to a close and Christmas gets closer and closer, we at Saint Andrews pray that you are inspired by the gifts God gives you, and that you do not fall into sadness this Christmas. Christ is for you, and He is born, a babe in a manger, for you! 

            And so, keep up those holiday traditions! Bake something for your neighbor. Talk to one another and see how you all are doing. The Hope you have in Christ is not gone. In fact, it calls you outwards towards others! Christ is coming and His promises remain sure. He defeated sin, death, and hell. And the same God that was crucified came down from heaven as a baby for you. Do not lose hope at the end of 2020. Why? Because Christ. Is. For. You!