By this time of the holiday season, people are often weighted down. They feel guilty about presents that are not perfect, or parties that did not go as planned, or year-end projects that did not get completed. To top it all off, now is when it dawns on people how little attention they have given to the spiritual preparation Advent invites.

If that is how we feel, perhaps the frenzy of December has done us a favor. We have been stretched to our limits. We have been made painfully aware of our shortcomings. We have been humbled. Perfect! For being made aware of our weakness does not disqualify us from God’s care. It does the opposite. IT is what prepares us for the work he does best. He is a God who lifts up the lowly.

Advent marks the start of a new Church Year and helps us prepare for the coming our Savior. With family gatherings and shopping for presents, delicious food and Christmas songs, we feel the Christmas season is knocking at the door. The time to celebrate and remember the birth of the Savior is right around the corner. Let us come together this Advent and remember what His coming is really all about. A real Christmas results in knowing the real Jesus.

In recent years there has been an explosion of companies that help you trace your family tree. You can go back a dozen generations, uncovering the history of your ancestors. Tracing your family tree allows you to learn more about where you came from. . . who you are. Interestingly, St. Matthew’s Gospel begins by tracing Jesus’ family tree. There are multiple reasons for this. First, providing the genealogy of Jesus proves that he is true man, exactly what we needed our Savior to be if He was going to take our place. Second, it demonstrates God’s grace, for in Jesus’ family tree you will find individuals whose heinous sins are recorded in Scripture: murder, prostitution, etc. The Christ is not the enemy of sinners. He is our brother. Finally, this family tree shows that God keeps all his promises. God had promised multiple believers—Eve, Abraham, David—that the Savior would be one of their descendants.

This week, we look at a very different type of Christmas tree—the Tree of Promise. Christmas proves that what God says will happen happens. God promised He would become one of us to save all of us. He did just that! The Tree of Promise proves God shall keep every single promise He makes to us.

Scripture says it was hard to miss, because God placed it “in the middle of the garden”—the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from every tree in Eden except that one. Why did God forbid them from eating the fruit of that one tree? Simply so that mankind would have one way to demonstrate they loved and trusted God. By disobeying God, Adam and Eve proved they didn’t fully trust Him. More, they proved that they loved the thought of being in control more than they loved God. It was rebellion. Still today, we rebel against our good and gracious God when we love or trust anything more than Him.

That Tree of Rebellion points to the need for Christ. We needed God to send a Savior who would succeed where we fail. The Christ would be the only man who ever loved and trusted God perfectly. More, while hanging on a tree, the Christ would shed his blood for our rebellion. It is the first tree in the Bible that serves as a Christmas tree. . . a tree that points us to Christ—the Tree of Rebellion.

This Sunday we thank God for bringing our Christian loved ones out of the troubles and turmoil of this world and into eternal bliss and glory. And we ask God to preserve us in our faith so that we might one day join the saints in that place, without the fear of judgement.

Today the Church hears strains of the distant triumph song and affirms, “Blessed are they who are called to the marriage feast of the Lamb. So while we wait, the Church prays, “Keep us ever watchful for the coming of your Son that we may sit with Him and all your holy ones at the marriage feast in heaven.” We celebrate those who have died in faith and now realize the perfect joys of heaven. We, with our loved ones, live free from the fear of judgment.

St. Luke, the beloved physician referred to by St. Paul (Colossians 4:14), presents us with Jesus, whose blood provides the medicine of immortality. As his traveling companion, Paul claimed Luke’s Gospel as his own for its healing of souls (Eusebius). Luke traveled with Paul during the second missionary journey, joining him after Paul received his Macedonian call to bring the Gospel to Europe (Acts16:10-17). Luke most likely stayed behind in Philippi for seven years, rejoining Paul at the end of the third missionary journey in Macedonia. He traveled with Paul to Troas, Jerusalem, and Caesarea, where Paul was imprisoned for two years (Acts 20:5-21:18). While in Caesarea, Luke may have researched material that he used in his Gospel. Afterward, Luke accompanied Paul on his journey to Rome (Acts 27:1-28:16).

Especially beloved in Luke’s Gospel are the stories of the Good Samaritan (Luke 16:29-37) and the prodigal son (Luke15:11-32). Only Luke provides a detailed account of Christ’s birth (Luke 2:1-20) and the canticles of Mary (Luke1:46-55), of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79), and Simeon (Luke 2:29-32).

To show how Christ continued His work in the Early Church through the apostles, Luke also penned the Acts of the Apostles. More than one-third of the New Testament comes from the hand of the evangelist Luke. (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House)

People think that establishing priorities is about ranking things in order of importance. But it is more than that. We do not have unlimited time and energy. So, establishing priorities enables us to say “no” to things which might be good yet not truly important. Without proper priorities, one inevitably will pursue that which is nice while downplaying that which is needed.

Throughout Scripture believers are urged to prioritize. It is the heart of the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Jesus calls for prioritization when He says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Good news: followers of Christ maintain proper priorities. Even better news: followers of Christ receive His forgiveness for all the times their priorities have been improper.

What is the worst war in human history? One might point to World War II, which has the highest death toll of at least 90 million people. Or consider the Three Kingdoms War, which not only resulted in over 40 million deaths but also lasted for most of the third century. There is no end to the sad list of nominations: the Thirty Years War, the Taiping Rebellion, the American Civil War, World War I.

None of those is the correct answer. The worst war in human history began when the first shot was fired in Eden. It has been raging since. It is a war against “spiritual forces of evil” (Ephesians 6:12). This is not a war over land or resources. It is a war for souls. The reality is that there are demonic forces that want to do more than kill you; they want to claim you for all eternity. The good news: Christ has already called you his own and equipped you for this war. Followers of Christ are armed for the battle.

A powerful tornado rolls through your neighborhood. A massive hurricane heads straight for your city. A bolt of lightning sends 300 million volts to earth. The raw power and unpredictability of storms can inspire both awe and terror. We cannot stop storms from coming. We can only hope to survive them. However, we know the Almighty God can stop storms. He can calm literal storms. He could remove metaphorical storms, other types of troubles and trials. So, if He can, why doesn’t He?

Well, would you rather have a God who was distant from you but removed all the storms of life? Or would you rather have a God who allowed some storms to come but promised to be right there by your side within them, holding you close? May God give us the top-down faith that sees that the latter is by far the better option. God promises to be with us through all the storms of life. Sometimes He removes them. But when He doesn’t, it’s only because He has plans to use even storms for our eternal good.