Pastor chuck’s 2014 christmas countdown blog 12 20

Pastor Chuck’s 2014 Christmas Countdown Blog #5 – I love that the Christ of Christmas understands us and helps us! Many of us are acquainted with the paradox of the Christmas season – it is a time when we are supposed to celebrate hope, love, joy and peace, but if we are honest, sometimes the joy of the Christmas season is overshadowed by pain, loss, depression and hurt. This is really a very tough time of year often filled with loneliness, sadness and grief. In fact, study after study continues to show that during the “holiday season” (Thanksgiving – New Years) depression rates go up, suicide rates go up, and the lonely nights grow even longer. And in many ways, all of our nonstop celebrating can compound the struggles even more. The message of Christmas is this: to people who live in darkness, a light is coming and to people who live in despair, hope is promised. You can’t speak of hope without being honest about the fact that hopelessness that exists. You can’t speak of a savior without acknowledging that the world needs saving. Pain, suffering, grief and loss go hand-in-hand with being human. They are part of the human condition and we can’t ignore that we experience these feelings even during Christmas. What more appropriate time than in this season of the year when we talk about God taking on the human condition to remember that He truly understands how we feel. What an encouragement we have when we remember that Jesus DOES understand us. In Hebrews 4:14-15 we read, “But Jesus the Son of God is our great High Priest who has gone to heaven itself to help us; therefore let us never stop trusting him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses . . . “ So if you find yourself drowning in the “blues” of Christmas, what can you do? Remember four things: 1. LESS IS MORE