Pastor Patrick’s Perspective: December 2025
I’ve been thinking about Christmas. We know the season will arrive soon after Advent. Advent helps us slow down and hear God’s promise. The world turns up the noise earlier each year, but Advent calls us to wait, watch, and listen. Advent reminds us that the world waited for generations for the Messiah to come; it reminds us that we await his coming again. Advent directs us to the God who keeps His promises. In that way, Advent prepares us for Christmas by teaching us to receive rather than achieve, to wait on the Lord rather than hurry after our own plans.
This year I’ve been thinking about the offense of Christmas. I can hear you saying, What? Most years I speak about the offense of the cross. Paul writes about it in 1 Corinthians. We know the cross offends because it shows the judgment of God against sin. It shows the cost of our redemption and strips us of every claim of strength. The cross silences our boasts. At the cross, Christ takes our place, and we contribute nothing. Our salvation comes from outside us. God acts. We receive. That offends the flesh, which wants to climb to God rather than rely on Him.
But Christmas is just as offensive. Yet we hardly ever speak that way in December. Instead we hear “holly jolly,” “merry and bright”, and snowy wonderlands. We think of Kris Kringle, Frosty the Snowman, and reindeer. None of that is wrong in itself. Joy is welcome.
But Christmas is just as offensive as the cross. The same God who hangs on the cross also lies in the manger. The same God who bears the curse also takes on our flesh. That is the offense of Christmas: God comes too close. He enters human weakness. He enters the world in a way that leaves no room for pride.
Where is the offense in the manger? First, in the simple truth that the Child is a man, human. In a stinky stable comes a stinky baby, a newborn. Each Christmas, one of my colleagues reminds his congregation that Jesus had dirty diapers. That is how he came. Inglorious. Weak. Needy. Crying for milk. The Lord of heaven depends on His mother for everything. That offends any heart that wants God to stand far above human need. We want a God who is strong on our terms. We want Him to stay clean, distant, untouched by the mess that marks our days. But God does not stay away. He draws near in flesh that sweats, bleeds, hungers, and cries.
Second, the manger offends because the Child is God. The Church calls his mother the Theotokos, the God-bearer. In other words, Mary is the Mother of God. That is, in the blessed womb of the Virgin was the eternal Word of God. The Creator lies in the arms of a young woman. The Alpha and the Omega sleeps while Joseph stands guard. Here is the Lord who speaks galaxies into being, now nursing at Mary’s breast. Here is the Holy One dwelling in a barn. The incarnation offends those who demand a God who matches their expectations.
The manger is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Angels praise Him. Shepherds kneel before Him because they hear the Word. The manger is joy to those who believe. We see Emmanuel—God with us. Not God above us. Not God against us. God with us. God joined to our flesh. God entering our weakness. God stepping into our sorrow. Christmas proclaims that the Father sends His Son to dwell with sinners so that sinners might dwell with Him. He does not wait for us to rise to Him. He comes down to us. He brings grace. He brings forgiveness. He brings life. The manger already points toward the cross, where the same body will bear our sin and redeem our lives.
This Advent await the Christmas miracle. God made flesh for you. And he still gives what you cannot give yourself. Himself. He is Emmanuel. And in Him, Christmas is joy indeed.
© Patrick K Welton