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Jeanne Takenaka
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The Characters of Christmas and a reminder - Jeanne Takenaka

    Who are your favorite characters of Christmas? Honestly? I think I’m fascinated by each one in the Christmas story. Mary and Joseph with their devotion and determination to live in obedience to God’s call on their lives. 

    Zacharias and Elizabeth, who after decades, became parents to a singularly unique person in history. Each must have had to come to terms with how different God’s fulfillment of hope for a child looked. 

    And the shepherds . . . the people group most in Israel overlooked or ignored. And yet, these humblest of men received the gift of Gabriel’s good news. I can only imagine how terrified they must have been when the starry night sky came to life with bright light and angel song. And yet, they believed Gabriel’s words. They hurried to the manger to catch the first glimpses of their Savior in baby form. 

    The wise men, who studied the stars for years before seeing the sign in the sky that told them the King of kings was born. Their trip through deserts and sand had to be challenging. And yet, these king-makers came to worship the one true King.

    As we head into Christmas week, may we each have hearts filled with wonder at the amazing gift of a baby born to die for our sins. We give gifts to each other, but let’s open our hearts to receive and remember the greatest gift—forgiveness and redemption—that Jesus came to offer us.

    We are taking a break until January 10th. I’ll be announcing some changes at that time. 

    We will miss our time with you, but I trust we’ll each begin 2023 refreshed! 

    In the meantime, I hope each of you has a wonder-filled, restful, glorious, joyful Christmas with your loved ones!

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