St. John's United Church of Christ 

Hello friends,

Merry Christmas month, friends. So many exciting events and ministry opportunities are planned throughout the weeks ahead with you in mind. You’ll notice worship, fellowship, outreach and mission events that will give all of us the opportunity to get, retain and offer the true Christmas Spirit to our community and beyond.

When I think about Advent and the Christmas Season, it occurs to me that Christmas is the greatest success –out-of-failure holiday in all of human history.

It is the celebration of Christmas that reminds us that Jesus loved us enough to come into this mixed up world to offer His plan of rescue, refreshment, reconciliation and resurrection to all who choose to believe. Our ancestors to that point had gotten it wrong; they messed up or misused God’s original plan for humanity. So a redemption operation was planned in the realms of Heaven and executed perfectly and lovingly by Jesus on behalf of all of us.

Success out of failure is a common occurrence if we allow it to be. As I said in a recent Sunday sermon, we never fail unless we give up. All of those who endure to the end will be saved. All of those who keep putting one foot in front of the other will ultimately win. Maybe not today or tomorrow or even next week. But eventually and assuredly it will happen.

178 years ago Charles Dickens was still reeling from the tepid and critical reception to his latest book. He would wander the streets of London pondering failure that had been devastating as well as the crazy political climate in England at the time led by Oliver Cromwell that outlawed the celebration of Christmas. As he reflected in this Scrooge-like behavior, the morsel of an idea dawned on his creative mind. After about 6 weeks of self-pity, he began to make notes on the novel that would make him a worldwide, household name as well as transform the way the modern world celebrated Christmas. Of course that book is “A Christmas Carol.”

A similar story comes in the form of the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Known today as the classic movie of Christmas began as a failure at the box office. Some of the most talented people in Hollywood like Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed and Frank Capra were not able to sell this story to a post-World War II audience not ready for this story. It lost $536,000 dollars for the studio. That would be 9.6 million dollars in today’s money. The film was pulled from theaters and considered a commercial failure by the industry. It wasn’t until 28 years later when the copyright lapsed and stations began running the film on television that it became the success and Christmas Classic it has been for the last 51 years! Grossing more than 31 million dollars in that time span.

Friends, sometimes our setbacks in life are simply setups for our greatest comeback.

As December unfolds and Advent leads us to Christmas Eve, let’s remember that Christmas always offers the opportunity for miracles of joy, love, peace and goodwill. Most of all, no matter what challenges we have experienced this last year, Christmas reminds us that failure doesn’t have the last word. Because Christmas snatches success from the jaws of failure every single time.

I invite all of us to open our hearts and minds to hear the Christmas story anew with fresh eyes and ears. May we allow it to touch our spirits with the gift of Jesus’ love and embrace the second chance it offers us.

Merry Christmas. I’ll watch for you in Church and around the community.

Pastor Steve