Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
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Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2006

Grace Church of Burlington December 24, 2006 “The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh,  is beyond all human understanding.”   Martin Luther             Recently, I had a rather unsettling revelation. I realized how easy it was to rewrite the Christmas story without realizing what we've done. Perhaps we are so used to fairy tales that we simply can't help ourselves. Maybe we’ve watched too many Christmas specials. Maybe our love for the "star of Bethlehem" causes us to imagine a more sanitized script in which to cast Him. Think about our version of Christmas....             Our Mary is elegant and beautiful--dancing eyes, shining hair, perfect smile. Our Joseph is youthful, strong and silent, muscular and mature, ruggedly handsome. The ideal husband for the virgin mother. Our shepherds are well-groomed, well-educated and clean. Perfect gentlemen. Our stable doesn't stink and is quiet. Our animals are well-behaved and sympathetic. Our hay isn't prickly and dirty. Our newborn infant doesn't cry. Not even a whimper. Our Bethlehem is as quiet and quaint as a little hamlet in New England.  It’s clean...almost touristy. Complete with a fresh blanket of snow and an occasional sleigh drawn by a team of Clydesdales.  "O Holy Night" plays softly in the background. That's our American version of Christmas. The perfect Christmas.             And that leaves us really with only one problem: The Son of God didn't come to an airbrushed, made-for-TV paradise. He came to a desperate, dilapidated, deteriorated wicked world. His Mary was a poor, unwed teenager. His Joseph was a poor working man who had decided to end the marriage arrangement. His shepherds were unschooled, unrefined and unpopular. His stable reeked like a barn. His animal attendants were noisy and rude. His hay was scratchy and filthy. His Bethlehem was over-crowded and oblivious. No snowfall. No Clydesdales. No background music.             Only God wrapped in flesh. Only the light of the world crying in a dark stable. Only the bread of life nestled in a feeding trough. Only the good shepherd sleeping among a few little lambs. Only the Prince of Peace being worshiped by peasants. Talk about a classic! His story. The perfect Christmas. The perfect Christ.             No one is beneath Him...He started at the bottom. No one is unreachable for Him...Is He your Savior?             “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.”  Luke 2:11