The Christmas season, and the season of Advent that leads up to it, are nearly upon us.
Your pastor and other church leaders are currently thinking, discerning, and preparing for Advent and the Christmas season.
During that time of year, it's helpful to remember that the story we've been given as God's people, the story of the Incarnation, the birth of Jesus--it's helpful to remember that this is OUR STORY to tell.
When you notice the culture around you NOT telling this story to your liking, don't get frustrated with our culture, or blame our government for not telling the Christian story.
It's not their story to tell anyway.
The Jesus story is the story God has entrusted to the Church to tell and retell, both with our words, in our songs, and even with our very lives.
We tell this story to each other, to remember who we are, and who we belong to.
We tell this story to the wider world, inviting them to become participants in this strange community called the Church.
Why would we expect a corporation, or government entity, to tell our story?
There is no war on Christmas. There's only a war on Christians being proper storytellers. And too often, Christians are on both sides of the war.
Let's lay down our weapons, and tell our story.
So, may we be storytellers, the way in which our Father has invited us to be.
May we tell the story of the Light coming into the darkness.
May we be salt AND light, to a world that needs Christians to start acting Christ-like again.
Let's Make Christmas Great Again, by being Christians again, leading with the humility and vulnerability of a God who comes to be among his people as a new-born baby.
May we tell our story, warts and all, with hope, with passion, and with a deep connection to the history of storytellers who have come before us.
Because God has given us a story to tell. It's our story to tell.
Let's do the work that we've been given to do, and stop expecting the world around us to do the work for us.
May it be so.