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Dearest friends,
Happy Advent and Merry Christmas! What a gift it is to journey through my first Advent and Christmas with all of you here at SSPC. The hope, peace, joy, and love of this season have been felt throughout our life together, and I continue to be so grateful for all of you and for the
gift it is to be your pastor.
As we draw ever nearer to the manger and to the story of Christ’s birth, I did not want to leave the season of Advent without mentioning one of the most infamous Advent characters: John the Baptist. You remember John, right? That gruff and demanding, locust-eating, backcountry preacher who we read about each Advent? The one who talks about sin and repentance and preparing the way of the Lord? The one who calls God’s people “a brood of vipers” and puts a damper on anything resembling Christmas cheer? Yes, that one. But John is also the one who sought in everything that he did to point beyond himself toward the one who was to come. And for that reason alone, John is someone worthy of our attention, especially in this Advent season.
From 1921 until his death, 20th-century theologian Karl Barth kept a painting over his desk that he would meditate on every day. The painting was by Matthias Grunewald, and the crucified Christ was hung in the center of the painting. To one side of Christ stands Mary and others who mourn his death. But on the other side of Jesus’ crucified body stands John the Baptist. In this painting, John the Baptist is holding the Scriptures, leaning ever so slightly away from the scene, but his long and bony finger extends out pointing directly at Jesus Christ. Having gleaned much from that long and bony finger, Barth proclaimed that as Christians (whether a theologian, pastor, teacher, mother, doctor, storekeeper, etc.), our job is to be the finger (and only the finger) of John the Baptist. In other words, the only thing we should do, indeed, the only thing we can do, is simply point to Jesus with our words, our actions, and the whole of our lives.
Friends, as this Advent season draws to a close and as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior, I invite you to consider where the finger of your life is pointing. Is it pointing toward presents and parties and creating the “picture perfect” holiday? Or is it pointing toward the Christ child and the hope, peace, joy, and love that he brings? It’s an important question to ask during a busy holiday season, but it will be equally important to ask in the days and weeks and months that follow. For the good news of Jesus Christ that we are called to live and to share with the
world extends far beyond a stable in Bethlehem. It is good news that we are called to share every day in every corner of the world.
So let us journey into this final week of Advent and Christmas (and into the days beyond it) with John fresh on our hearts and minds, calling us to repent of all that separates us from God and praying that our lives might point toward Christ alone. In all that we do both individually and together in the coming year, may we always, always, always point beyond ourselves toward the One in whom we live and move and have our being.
Friends, I am so deeply grateful for all of you, and I look forward to all that God will do through us and among us in 2025. Happy Advent, Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year!
With gratitude for our life together,
Rachel
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