“My first Christmas living in a city in the Himalayan mountains of Central Asia, was one I won’t forget. There was nothing remarkable or unique about December 25th. Tea houses were open, bus schedules were the same, and my language classes began on time. 

It was a completely unremarkable day.  

I imagine that was what the first Christmas was like, too. A very unremarkable day. Schedules were kept, and tasks were planned and accomplished as usual–except that angels interrupted the shepherds' schedules and said the most extraordinary thing had happened. “Salvation has come to you!” 

The promised Redeemer has come. All the promises in the Old Testament of the Bible about a coming salvation had been kept in the birth of Christ. The Child promised in Genesis 3 and Isaiah 11 was lying in a manger. The day was extraordinary because the events of that day changed every unremarkable day after it.  

Sitting in my dorm room on December 25th, 2005 I watched out my window at the unremarkable day unfolding. I wanted to shout into the unremarkable daylight the extraordinary words of Christ in Luke 21:28: “Look up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” 

Christmas Day is not an extraordinary day; it's ordinary, like any other day. The sun rises and the sun sets. But it is a day that we are invited to pause and to tell one another to stop and raise our heads in extraordinary celebration.

Salvation has come to us! Jesus has come.

This Christmas we want to celebrate that extraordinary truth and each week of Advent we will explore what the Bible says about those events and how it brings us peace, joy, hope, and love.

I hope this Christmas Day is remarkable for you.”