Good morning and a most blessed Thursday to you. 

The moment it happened I knew exactly what our time of devotion together was going to be about this week. On Monday Love One Another Preschool had our Christmas program. We had the _­­­­three and the four-year-old's sharing the Christmas story the birth of Christ for their parents, grandparents and friends of their families. 

Over the past couple of weeks we spent time rehearsing with the kids. They knew exactly where they were supposed to go and what songs we were going to sing. And they were ready. But Just before before the Christmas program, as they were getting their costumes on, we began to have some meltdowns. There were sheep crying. There was a cow, who no longer wanted to be a cow. And we had Joseph, who decided he did not want to walk but that he was very sleepy. And so, it was just a lot backstage chaos. That's okay. Not a problem.

Then we get to the pageant. And as the animals are entering the cow, who is not dressed like a cow, sees his mom and runs to her. Then the cow is sitting with his mom. Then Joseph and Mary enter with the donkey. But Joseph doesn't want to walk. So he gets carried in. And as he's placed in the stable, Mary climbs up in her seat and the donkey is parked. Joseph places his face in the hay and continues to, I guess, sniff the hay the rest of the time. We had the shepherds and the sheep enter.  Thankfully some of our teachers were shepherds and so the sheep sat in our teachers laps.  But they were crying. The sheep wanted to go to their parents. The sheep were very sad. And then the shepherds (who were the preschool children) were very interested in the hay bales. So they spent their time looking through the hay, and digging through the hay. Then we had the sheep with curly horn, who kept hiding behind his horns. It was all just so beautiful. Then we have the birth of Christ, and we have the angels enter in. Gabriel is beginning to announce the birth of Christ, when one of the little angels realizes where she is, and that people are looking at her. She burst into tears. So then, Gabriel is trying to announce the birth of Christ while comforting this little angel. And the little angel continues to hide behind the other little angel. 

It was absolutely precious!    It was messy and chaotic, and so sweet. And the moment it happened, I thought this preaches. This preaches, because when we think of the Nativity Story, when we think of of retelling Christ's birth, especially with children, we picture this beautiful serene sort of scene that shows the story of Christ's birth. And it's soft. It's perfect, and it's beautiful. We think of Christ's birth as having been soft and perfect and calm and beautiful. But Christ did not enter into a soft, calm, beautiful, or perfect world. Christ entered into this world that was filled with sin, with chaos, with messiness, and darkness. John writes in his Gospel that Gospel that Jesus is the light who came into the world, and the darkness has not overcome him. The darkness will never overcome Jesus. 

Praise the Lord that he did enter into our messiness. And praise the Lord that even in our sin, in our mess that is our chaos today, he continues to come to us through his Word. He continues to call us to himself through his Word, through baptism, through communion… and to say, “You are absolutely loved. You don't have to be perfect. You won't be perfect, but I'm entering into your imperfection to give you my perfection.”

That is what Christ tells us in his birth. He comes to us in order to save us from our sin, to save us from sin, death, and the devil. He did that he did that in the midst of chaos, messiness, and meltdowns.  He did that because he loves you.

While the Nativity Story that our preschoolers shared with their family and their friends, was not perfect, it perfectly preached that Christ, regardless of our messiness, or our meltdowns, or our chaos, entered in to love us. He will continue to love us through all of our mess. He is our light and he is our life. He will be there to guide us now and forever. 

Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for entering into creation, for humbling yourself becoming one of us, so that that you can save us from ourselves… that you can save us from our sin. Lord, you are good, and you are gracious… and we ask that we would always walk in your light, always have your Word upon our lips… that we can share your light with those who are walking in darkness, so that they too can come to know you in the messiness of their lives, and know that they too can be forgiven through you, our savior.  Lord, we thank you, and we praise you for being the God that you are… The God who is merciful, who is just, and who is right.  Thank you Lord. We lift this to you in the perfect name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have an amazing rest of your week. Know that in whatever messiness pops up, that Christ is the light who shines and walks with you today and always. 

God bless.

Pastor Malinak