As is our custom every December for our final regular meeting of the year we invite a local pastor to bring us a Christmas message. This year our guest was pastor Laura Johnson from Apex Methodist Church.
This year was like no other given the global pandemic of COVID-19 and all of the other unrest in our nation. Pastor Laura has two young children who are experiencing the wonder of Christmas so she reflected on the true Christmas story for inspiration for the message to us this evening.
As we learn from the bible God works in mysterious ways. And He often takes situations that seem hopeless to us and turns them into miracles that only He can accomplish. Perhaps that is one way that we can know that it is truly God that has done these great things? The true Christmas story is one such example.
As pastor Laura read from Luke chapter 2 she noted that Mary (who was very pregnant at the time) and Joseph were probably not terribly excited about having to make a 10 day walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census but they had no other choice. And when they finally arrived there was no place for them to stay so they were put in a stable with animals. So when Mary gave birth to baby Jesus the conditions probably could not have been much worse for them. But that was how God chose to bring His son, our savior, into the world.
So as we consider the struggles of this past year in our own lives we can hold to the hope that God is still able to take what seems like a terrible circumstance to us right now and turn it into a miracle beyond what we can even think or consider. Let’s hold to that thought as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ this year. With God all things are possible.
After the message we shared Christmas ornaments and stories of Christmases past. Although we are still meeting via Zoom meetings instead of in person it is still good to have some fellowship every couple of weeks with other Lions! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
