Angels are due this week… I have said before, the angel tree is one of the best parts of this holy season. By taking an angel we actually join the mission of Santa and give to someone completely random. But unlike Santa, who has an elite force of stalking spies and a strange coal based goodness scale, we never know our angel. We know a first name, the gender and age, plus a few list of wants. But we can not pick them out of a line-up, much less know the sound of their laugh…

   This makes the action of God all the more amazing. It was NOT an act of charity—grace is not a disconnected gift from above. Instead God came down and joined us. He lived the human condition—He even lived in powerless poverty. And so at Christmas shepherds hurried and heavenly hosts proclaimed. All the while the Creator cried for food and comfort from a young couple who did not know where to begin (parents know that feeling and God entrusted Himself to us!).

He came that we would no longer be disconnected, but be known.

This Sunday Greg’s Sermon uses an awesome image drawn by Jeff Stahler, a  political cartoonist. The title of the sermon begins the advent season theme, “When you are expecting: But it looks like the Worst” (Each week’s title begins with “When you are expecting…”). Click on the pic to enlarge, but I love the notice posted on the door!