Week #2, December 11,2022

As they grow, children go through stages don't they? In one stage they can be so pleasant and it can be such a fun time together... but then there is the other stages that seem like almost pure hell on earth. Psychologists tell us these are all normal growing stages, and the rough years are when children are trying to validate their independence and identity outside of their parents.

I say this because independence, if simply reduced, is the desire to be the king or ruler of one-self. We all in one way or another want to be the master of our own destiny. Which is a thing we were never designed or created to be... Even in our desire to be independent, we dismiss a very distinct reality - we are all submitting to something/someone as the ruler of us. Some of us have submitted to a person, but many more of us are ruled by our desires. Unconsciously we are controlled by things that we believe will answer the ache deep in our souls. The ache we are terrified to expose even to ourselves.

What does this have to do with Christmas? Matthew's perspective of the Christmas story tells us why Jesus birth is such good news to those whose king isn't working out for them. Whose king is destroying their life. Who desperately want to be freed from the weight and demands of a king who doesn't care about us. The Good News of a new and good King is here!