From the Pastor

Bethlehem and the Promise of God’s “Yes” in Christ Jesus
(Luke 2:16 and 2 Corinthians 1:20)

God’s “YES!” is always more earthshattering than the world’s “maybe.” Heaven’s “YES” is always victorious over hell’s “NO.” Words, especially words of promise, bring life to lifeless people.

The power of promising words was chronicled ten years ago in a movie called The 33. I haven’t seen it, but it was based on a book entitled Deep Down Dark that chronicled the ordeal of 33 Chilean miners trapped by a cave in during the summer of 2010. If you followed the news back then you’ll remember how, after the accident at the Copiapo mine, no one knew whether or not any of the buried Chilean miners had survived the accident. They were buried 2,300 feet underground. The ordeal was especially agonizing for the families of the “Los Treinta y Tres.” Deep Down Dark talks about the experience of the families who were forced to endure weeks of not knowing the condition of their loved ones. As the days following the collapse turned into weeks, a makeshift living area sprang up in the desert around the mine, a tent-village called Campamento Esperanza or “Camp Hope”. The families of the trapped men prayed around the clock. Because of the mine's notorious history, it was originally thought that the workers had probably not survived the collapse or would starve to death before they could ever be found.

But with the resources that the mining company, Codelco, was able to marshal, eight exploratory boreholes were hastily drilled. Seventeen days after the accident, on August 22, a note written in bold red letters appeared taped to a drill bit pulled to the surface after penetrating an area believed to be accessible to the trapped workers. It read simply "Estamos bien en el refugio, los 33" (English: "We are well in the shelter, the 33 of us"). From that time forward, what many feared would be a recovery mission, turned into a rescue mission. From that time forward, the MAYBE, or at times even the NO that the miners and their families had contemplated, turned into a YES! And as Hector Tabor tells the story of the rescue, the miraculous work of engineers and government officials who pulled off a stunning rescue of these men in less than two months is a parable of hope sustained by simple words… We are well in the shelter, the 33 of us.

St. Paul once wrote to the Christian church in Corinth that “all the promises of God find their ‘YES’ in [Jesus]” (2 Cor. 1:20). That is what we celebrate again this Christmas. The story of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection are words that sustain us when life experiences assail us and cause us to question or doubt God’s love for us. Into the deep darkness of a Bethlehem night, a child — our Savior Jesus — was born! It was not a foregone conclusion that all would end well for those who waited on God’s time and God’s way of fulfilling what He had promised to do. But in that tiny baby, God’s recovery mission for the human race got underway! On the Day we find ourselves above ground and living in the new heaven and new earth we will fully appreciate the love that went into that rescue effort! Advent gives us the chance to watch the story unfold again right now. We know how it ends. That makes all the difference.

Join us this month as God shines the light of His “YES” into our hearts once again.

A very blessed Christmas to all of you….
Pastor Jonathan