Isaiah 61

For our Christmas Eve Candle-light service, we went to our grandparents Methodist church, as we normally do. The pastor was very gifted, very organized, and a very good communicator. Nothing he said was particularly wrong or anything I disagreed with. Yet, I hated his message. (I usually hate people that use the word "hate" (and I hate irony), but if you think about it, in order to love something, you have to hate something; therefore, in my mind, I feel justified.) The jist of his sermon was this: God did the impossible through a virgin birth, so God can do the impossible in your life....what things in your life seem completely impossible to happen?....God can do it.

Martin, what's so wrong with that message? I could understand you maybe not getting much out of it, or maybe wishing the message was a little different, but why would you HATE it? Are you that arrogant with your non-Methodist ways that you hate anything that's doesn't meet your standard??

My response:
The pastor prayed earlier for God to bless all those who are less fortunate, who will have less joy this holiday season. That was nice of him, but what about all the people who are lacking joy right there in the congregation? What about all the people who are miserable, sad, depressed, and lonely in that church? The people who are finding out that nothing that they're getting for Christmas really satisfies them...the people who desperately want meaning in their lives but find none...the people who have been hurt by others, who feel unaccepted, unworthy, unlovable. You have this being the most attended service of the year, where there'll be tons of non-Christians, tons of people who realize something in their life is missing. Here's one of the best opportunities of the year to show how the Gospel of Christ, the coming of the Kingdom speaks into every single one of these people's situations, every one of these people's personal hell.....but you barely even give them a taste. You're sitting on a gold mine, but you don't really mention it. You have the medicine, but you give them none of it. If Christmas just stands as an example of how God can do unlikely things, then it doesn't meet the deepest need of the human soul. But if it's more than just an example, if it actually does meet people's greatest needs, then the coming of Jesus is the most relevant news ever.