Dear friends,

A very merry Christmas to you from snowy Chicagoland!

This Christmas season, I’m delighted to offer three gifts of encouragement, orientation, and beauty. 

If you’re looking for an encouraging but honest Christmas sermon, I preached last Sunday on “Ending to Begin.” This is one of the most personal sermons I’ve ever given. It tells several stories from my life in which the endings I feared in my journey opened into new beginnings of hope. As we meditate on the birth of Jesus, we discover that his story is also our story: we end to begin. I hope this message is encouraging to you.

Christmas has become such a polarizing topic in the culture war. We hear slogans like “Put Christ back into Christmas,” and yet I observe that even our Christian messaging often ends up missing Christ. Last night, I visited a local church which gave a Christmas tract to each of its guests. The tract claimed to tell the true story of Christmas, and yet it described Jesus as a “hero” and “warrior” – words the New Testament never uses to describe the Prince of Peace.

If you’re looking for some energizing reading on Jesus or would like to gift a book to a friend, I hope you’ll consider Flourishing on the Edge of Faith (a meditation on the Lord’s Prayer) and Blessed Are the Others (a meditation on Jesus’ Beatitudes). The Jesus we meet in the New Testament is so incredibly honest, prophetic, and beautiful. I’m delighted these books have helped readers rediscover Jesus in new-yet-ancient ways. They’d make perfect Christmas gifts 🙂

Third, I’ve found that I often need images more than words, and beauty every bit as much as truth. I’m delighted to invite you to visit Lily’s website and spend a moment with her beautiful paintings. Her canvases remain so richly grounding and hope-giving to me in this season of my life. Whether you’re looking for the golden glow of summer, the wonder of winter, or a more provocative abstract, Lily’s paintings are alive and luminous. They also make truly precious gifts that will radiate beauty for generations to come.

This is my first Christmas after my dad died in April. If you carry the ache of grief in this holiday season, know that you are not alone and that I’m praying with you. May the presence of God-with-us – in all of our joy and grief – refresh and sustain you.

Yours with gratitude,

Andrew