Merry Christmas Eve, Church. How are we doing? We're so glad you're here. I know it's 70 degrees outside, but it is snowing in this place. So, oh, wow, wow, wow. Listen, this is one of those times where we slow down. We sit with family, we reflect on a story that is very familiar to many of us.

And so if you're a guest with us, if you're someone that's in town, you're traveling through,

we don't always have snow inside. So just know that that's normal and bear with us as we

adjust and figure out how to breathe with the snow in here. We're glad that you would trust us

with your Christmas Eve. I know that this is a story that many of us know, right? This is a story that you've heard

many times. You know the people, you know the places, you know the scenes. And I think a lot of us

know it, but we don't know it. And what I've learned and believe is the enemy of knowing it

is knowing it. When it becomes so familiar to you, because you came over today and I'm sure

you're fighting all kinds of things and you're figuring out your next travel plans and hey have we wrapped the gifts and you know it's like oh and there's flu B

and there's flu A and there's whatever else you're you're trying to navigate that certainly in

our home we're navigating that a little bit and and you drove over here and if you've been in church

long you're like is he going to go Luke two to go like, is he going to go Luke 2, it's going to go Matthew 1, is he going to go Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9? Like, what, what? You know,

how is he going to tell the story that's been told since 2000, for 2026 years? Over and over and over.

You've heard it. And I think that familiarity is the challenge for us in not understanding that this is a story about God giving us the greatest gift.

Kids, what is the greatest gift that God gave us on Christmas?

Jesus. Jesus. And maybe you've been believing that since you were that old.

But what I want to happen today is for that to hit you in a new and a fresh way.

And in fact, the burden of the preacher is to tell the story that has been told for

2026 years in a new and fresh way.

With the same characters, you know, the same plot, the same setting, Bethlehem,

and then how do you bring this to life?

And so I've asked some friends to help me.

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