Pastor's Blog

Most parents remember the moment their child stops believing in Santa Claus, it’s an “aw, they’re growing up” moment. It’s a natural reaction, our rationalistic society values reason and logic above all other virtues. Our culture believes that the human intellect is the greatest power in the universe. We’re all influenced by this philosophy, whether we realize it or not.

Christmas is a holiday that reminds us that there is more to our existence than what reason can understand and logic can explain. A God-man in the form of a baby born of a virgin defies all logic. There is no rational explanation for it. In fact, all of the critical events of the Christian faith are beyond logical analysis. Creation, incarnation, resurrection; all of them incomprehensible by the human mind. At Christmas we’re reminded that it is not reason or logic that God requires, but faith. Faith in a God who is greater than our intellect, who accomplishes miracles that make little rational sense to us.

Contrary to popular opinion, faith does not require us to turn off our brains. Faith is not opposed to logic, faith goes beyond logic. Faith simply recognizes the limitations of the human mind. We are not able to fully grasp the complexities of God’s creation, let alone the plan that He is unfolding in, around, and through us. Faith rejects the intellectual arrogance of humanistic rationalism and humbly admits that God is greater. Science continues to understand more and more about God’s creation, and often those discoveries seem to support what people of faith have always believed. Yet we understand that God is and will always be greater.

In the movie Miracle on 34th Street, rationalism and logic are challenged by events that are unexplainable by logic. In the end the faith of a child is rewarded, and we are left to decide for ourselves whether it was coincidental or miraculous. Our society tends to celebrate when a child leaves behind their childish thinking and becomes more logical. As followers of Christ, we must constantly be reminded that the reverse is true. For us the challenge is to become more childlike. This Christmas, as we celebrate the miraculous birth of God’s Son, let’s celebrate childlikeness. For it is the humble, trusting nature of a child that God requires of us all.