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I officiated a wedding this past Saturday.  The couple chose their wedding date to be12.23.23, and not the 12.31.23 that a record setting number of other couples have chosen as this year ends.  Many times over the weekend I thought of them having their first Christmas together as Mr. and Mrs. in their new apartment.  I pray they have at least as many as Monica and I have now had as Mr. and Mrs.  I believe this is our 48th … which were preceded by 7 other Christmases together leading up to our marriage.

This Story for Christmas comes compliments of my cousin, Tim Hetzner, the (semi-retired) Ambassador for Spiritual Growth for Lutheran Church Charities of Chicago.  This was from his daily email devotion of yesterday.  As you read it, the suggestion is that you consider these words given to us by St. Paul: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9.15).  Here is the story:

With Christmas less than two weeks away … and the number of “advent” calendars that actually talk about Advent decreasing … I suggest we do a little something together this week that is actually geared toward preparing our hearts for the coming (advent) celebration of the incarnation of our God and Savior Jesus.  God has promised to be at work in us through his Word, and I have found he frequently supports that work through music.  So, this week, I simply offer to you a little scripture enhanced by the words of a song.

I like the second definition of “impact” found in the Oxford dictionary (online):  “have a strong effect on someone or something.”  Merriam-Webster says it this way: “to impinge or make contact especially forcefully.”  This one I do not like as much because impinge generally implies a negative effect, and I am thinking of impact in a positive way.  For the same reason neither pushy nor forceful work either.  Yet somehow I am sensing that the Spirit of our God was active in this way in my life on a pretty constant basis over this past week.