Christmas 2014

(By Thor Knutstad)

Dearest Friends and Family,

Setting the context for the famous passage of Isaiah 53 that describes in detail the prophetic suffering and crucifixion of the LORD Jesus, Isaiah 52:7-10 is a beautiful backdrop for Christmas. Let me “decorate” the setting for you:

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring Good Tidings, who proclaim salvation and say “Your God reigns!”  With shouts of joy, they will see it with their own eyes.  Burst into songs of Joy, for the Lord has comforted His People.  The Lord will bare His Holy Arm in the sight of all the nations and all of the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

For some of you, that may seem like a lot of Old Testament Bible. You may be waiting for key words like Christmas, baby Jesus, family, manger and Bethlehem.  But if you look more closely and reread the passage, it doesn’t look so ancient in list form.

Good News

Peace proclaimed

Good Tidings

Proclaim Salvation

Shouts and Songs of Joy

The Salvation of our God

For any of you that have ever read one of my past annual Christmas letters, you know I will always proclaim to you this Good News, or in New Testament terms, The Gospel.  The apostle Paul, who once was a murderous persecutor of Christ, made it his mission to tell others about Jesus being the Messiah (the Christ, the Anointed One).  He once said that Jesus’ death and resurrection was of First Importance (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).  But Easter only follows the Incarnation of Christ Jesus.  Incarnation means “in flesh”.  It amazes me that we forget the fact that ‘God became flesh in Jesus’ coming as a humble child and selfless servant.  The Lord God, who reigns over Heaven and Earth, came to us as a man.  In an act of mercy and grace, Jesus shows up to bring salvation – as a humble, loving, despised, suffering man. (Isaiah 53)  Creator God lowered Himself to our level, to die for us and save us from sin. (Philippians 2: 1-11)  Then he conquered death by rising from death.  He rises OVER DEATH; His resurrection – defeating all of sin and death.  Victory.

If I had spent the last few paragraphs updating you on our lives, it would not have been a good investment of my words.  So I preach and proclaim this Gospel first.  As for the Knutstads, we are all well.  Early 2014 began with me and Lisa forming our covenant of marriage and bringing together our sons Jordan (20), Bryn (14), Jadon (12) and Elijah (8) into one blended, Christ-following family.  As Lisa and I quickly approach a year of marriage soon, we are truly grateful.  Our sons really love and enjoy each other and get along very well.  Each brings joy to us.  

Jordan is diligently working now and serves on a church worship team band as a keyboard player.  Bryn will finish 8th grade this year and is an avid lover of hunting and competitive airsoft play, aspiring to be a soldier.  Jadon wowed us with straight A’s first marking period and was very successful in both cross country running and soccer.  Elijah played soccer too and just had his 2nd grade Christmas concert where he sang with his classmates so confidently.  Lisa balances the tremendous task of working from home full-time as a Clinical Data Coordinator with taking care of our home and all of us.  Besides being a wonderful wife and mother to all our boys, Lisa also loves on her friends, takes pictures using her gift of photography and serves at Journey Church.  As for me (Thor), I continue to serve in ministry as the pastoral counselor to three churches in Limerick (PA), Langhorne (PA) and Vineland (NJ).  I am grateful to be entrusted with the hurts, struggles and relationships of so many people.

Life has changed a lot for all of us, but we are thankful to our Lord for our family and friends (YOU!) and we wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2015.  May the LORD be known and make Himself KNOWN to you in a whole new way!  God bless you dear family and friends as you celebrate the Savior, the LORD Jesus – who has defeated death and will wipe away every tear.  What JOY awaits!

            With much Love,

                Thor, Lisa, Jordan, Bryn, Jadon and Elijah

Christmas: Jesus Came to Trade Places with Us!

(By Diego Cuartas)

A reality that is central to Christmas is that Jesus came to trade places with us.

There is a story, found in Mark 1:40-45, which tells of a man who had leprosy and was healed by Jesus. The story actually indicates that the man was labeled "unclean" because a person with leprosy, back in that society, was considered defiled and unclean. A person with leprosy was pretty much considered an outcast and was avoided by others. To touch someone with leprosy was to become unclean.

Perhaps there are things in your life that you or others consider "unclean" or undesirable to say the least. Things that make you isolate from others or hide behind some reality or behavior that helps you, in your mind, look better or more presentable to others. What is that thing you wish was not part of who you are?

So Jesus, the Son of God, enters our world, in the most humble possible way, in order to get close to the leper, close to you, and close to me. He gets so close that he is willing to "touch" what others reject in us. So in the story, Jesus touches the leper with great compassion and responds to the request the man made: "if you will, you can make me clean." Jesus addresses the man, touches the man and says "I will, be clean!." This is exactly what Jesus wants to do in your life and mine. He is close, he wants to touch the places that are broken in our lives and with great compassion wants to release the willingness and power to heal us. That is pretty close, isn't?

Have you ever been touched (impacted) by someone that deeply and that compassionately? This is one of many stories where Jesus, the humble Christmas Savior, moves towards the underserving and yet in need as he compassionately considers their condition. Where in your life would you like Jesus to touch and alter your reality?

I can't help but tell you that it gets even better! Let's recap first: Jesus came into this world. He got pretty close to the leper man. He is attentive to his request. He stretches out his hand and touches him and willingly heals the man. Boom! The guy is made clean. No more rejection. This man has been reintegrated into social life miraculously--not to mention, his sickness is gone! But there is one more thing Jesus does. Jesus asks the man keep this quiet and to fulfill the requirements expected before the town leaders. The man couldn't help it but go about telling everyone about this miraculous encounter with Jesus. As a result, Jesus is hindered from entering the town and remains in the place of the leper experiencing seclusion. 

Jesus will do the same for you! He entered this world. Came close to you in fleshly form. He is willing to touch the undesirable realities of your life. And he will even trade places with you. Well....he actually did it already, at the Cross! Learn from the rest of the people in the story. They went seeking Jesus even though he took the place of the leper. They looked for him because they learned that only such PERSON would dare to touch the "unclean"!

If he touches you, you will never be the same.

May that happen in your life this Christmas!

A Christmas the Grinch Can't Steal

"Spend less." It's easy to say, isn't it? Rolls off the tongue quickly, almost effortlessly. It's so simple that it's almost trite this time of year. To tell you the truth, if I hadn't heard it from the pulpit on Sunday, I might've been tempted to dismiss it altogether. Sure, I'd tell you, I'd love to spend less. Nobody wants to be wasteful. But I have gifts to buy for so many people, and there's so little time to get all that shopping in, and of course I have to get the perfect gift for everyone, and really how much should I be spending on gifts anyway? And then I walk into church and we start talking about giving to the poor instead, and I just feel guilty about Christmas altogether. It's like I can’t win, no matter what I do.

I imagine you've felt this same hopelessness before. And after Sunday, I'm left pondering a question that continues to bug me year after year: how can we ever hope to practice "Spend Less" in a healthy, responsible way?

Any time Jesus wanted to convey a truth about how to live, he told a story. He could have given us a field manual, or a systematic theology textbook. But he knew that the best way to teach us about life was to speak in terms of things we already knew, like construction or gardening. I like that He did this because it’s easier for me to follow, and stories are way more interesting than textbooks anyway.

 So let me tell you a story.

It's one of my favorite Christmas stories, and one I'm sure you're familiar with: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," by Dr. Seuss. It's a simple story that asks a simple question: what happens when there aren’t any presents on Christmas? You know the tale: the mean, old Grinch steals all the presents in Whoville on Christmas night, only to find them singing together on Christmas morning, "without any presents at all!" This baffles the Grinch. And at first, it ought to baffle you, too. The Grinch has taken everything even resembling Christmas: "all the ribbons, the wrappings, the trimmings, the trappings." No presents. No food. It's all gone. And yet the Whos wake up singing.

Why? What's left to sing about? “Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small” joins hands and sings the one truth of Christmas together. So what are they singing? Well, it didn’t have anything to do with sleigh bells or shopping, I can tell you that. Because if all you have to sing about on Christmas is presents, decorations, and the "Christmas spirit," then you have a Christmas that the Grinch can steal. Christmas has to be about something bigger than presents, bigger even than your loved ones, for it to inspire you to sing all by itself.

Which is why I'm inclined to think the Whos were singing something you and I might know.

O come, all ye faithful,

Joyful and triumphant,

O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem

Come and behold Him,

Born the King of angels

O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord.

That, friends, is a Christmas the Grinch can't steal. It's the truth that keeps the fire of Christmas burning: that hope doesn't come from a department store. That the King has come, in the most unlikely of fashions. And there's a rumor going around that He's going to change everything.

When we stop worrying about things that are less important than Christ, everything falls into place. That's the secret of "Spend Less." Like Jesus' friend Martha, we are worried about many things; "all the ribbons, the wrappings, the trimmings, the trappings." We can't begin to think about slowing down because how will anything get done if we don't work like crazy through the holiday? And I can promise you one thing: until we shift our values to focus on the "Christ" part of Christmas, we will always rest dissatisfied. We can make every excuse in the book, but it comes down to our willingness to follow Jesus into every area of life, even the uncomfortable places like how we spend our money.

So stop for a minute. Quit worrying about your to-do list. Remember to sing. Remind yourself why you’re doing all that cooking and cleaning. Spend time in the presence of God for an hour instead of browsing around endlessly on Amazon. Make room for Jesus every day, and watch Christmas take on a whole new life. Because when Christ comes, everything changes.

Blog entry by: Dominick Baruffi