“How can I be sure of this?”

Read: Luke 1:13-25

There is not a Christmas that goes by that we are not tempted by Zechariah’s question. We live in the scientific age. How can we believe in an honest-to-goodness God inspired prophet? How is it possible that a virgin conceived and the Lord of the Universe laid in a manger? Do we believe in the unbelievable during the holiday season only to revert back to business as usual January first?

The answer is “No”, we reject the unbelievable.

“We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried; on the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.”

This is what we believe. We do not believe that time plus chance produces the world we live in or that biological determinism accounts for the depth and meaning of human personhood or that death ends all. And we don’t believe in Santa Claus, either.

Prayer: Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. Celebrating Your birth as a human being reminds us of the profound realities that shape our lives and our cosmos. But we so easily forget and limit You to what we can see and touch. Reality is the mall. Its something we can buy. But we know otherwise. Help us to live in the reality of Your world and Your salvation. Amen.