Angels We Have Heard on HighНамуна

PARDON THE INTERRUPTION

There were four angelic appearances in the Christmas story. Each with a specific message.

For Zechariah, it was a call to prepare. To prepare for the Advent of the Messiah.

For Mary, it was a call to provide. To provide a place for Jesus to be birthed.

For Joseph, it was a call to protect. To protect what God had entrusted into his care.

For the Shepherds, it was a call to praise. To praise God and share the good news that the Savior had been born.

And 2000 years later, the call of Christmas is the same for you and me.

To prepare our hearts anew for the Savior has come.

To provide space for the spirit of God to birth something great within each of us.

To protect those things that God has entrusted to our care and to steward them well.

To praise God, our Emmanuel, for His redemptive work for all of humanity.

Yet, the call of Christmas is more than this. The call of Christmas is an interruption.

Zechariah was doing his priestly duties in the temple in Jerusalem when God interrupted him to announce that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son that would be the forerunner of Jesus.

Mary was busy preparing for marriage when God interrupted her plans to tell her she would give birth to the Messiah.

Joseph was working as a carpenter and getting ready to receive a wife when God interrupted him to tell him that his virgin bride was pregnant with the son of God.

The shepherds were watching their flocks at night when God interrupted and chose them to make public the announcement that a Savior had been born.

Yes, Christmas is a time for interruptions. And the gospel, that good news of great joy that shall be for all people, continues to interrupt our lives.

Saul was interrupted on his way to Damascus, and his life was never the same.

Each of us has experienced moments of interruption, and our lives have never been the same.

This Christmas season, as we travel, shop, cook, decorate, Facebook, and fellowship with family and friends, let’s pray for more interruption in our lives.

And when they come, let us respond like Mary did when she said to Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be to me according to your word.”

And let us react like the Shepherds, who “went in haste” and returned “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”

As we read Luke’s account of the birth of the Christ-child again this Christmas season, let’s remember that this cast of characters were ordinary people like you and me going about their everyday lives until God interrupts.

My prayer is that God will once again interrupt our plans and interrupt our very lives. Maybe not with a spectacular host of heavenly angels, but interrupt us, nonetheless.

On that first Christmas, God interrupted human history with the birth of His son.

This Christmas, maybe God is ready to interrupt your history.

As this Advent season of waiting draws to a close and we prepare for Christmastime, let’s ready ourselves for His call.

Let’s pardon the interruption.