Christmas is a time of joy and coming together with the people we love. The wonder of this season is reflected in the carols that fill the air sharing the Christmas story of a father’s love that he gave his only son, in the form of a baby. These carols bring comfort to those who hear them but the irony of the Christmas story is that the first one was anything but comfort.  

Imagine a teenage girl bringing the Son of God in a less-than-ideal environment—a stable’s manger. And, next to her, was her husband, who despite the culture’s custom, married her because of a promise that whom she carried was God’s gift of salvation. Many of the characters surrounding this Christmas story had to move beyond being scared from the appearance of an angel telling them of an out-of-the-norm promise of how they play a part in God’s mission for humanity with one assurance: To not be afraid.

Pastors Rich and DawnCheré Wilkerson, in their message "Scared but Gifted," reflect how that Christmas story of 2,000 years ago from Luke 2 impacts our lives today. That God has given each of us gifts, but we might see them as insignificant because they come in the form of seeds requiring us to steward even when we are scared.  Not only that, those gifts are wrapped in unexpected covers – packaging deemed problematic that will take a process to unwrap for the gifts to manifest. But those gifts, as with any harvest, manifest in time. Our part in the process of managing God’s gifts, and working out the packaging they come in, is to trust in God’s timing for them being fully fleshed out.