"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" – Luke 1:34

Today's Scripture Reading (December 25, 2022): Luke 1

How often do you talk about someday? It is so easy and pervasive. Someday – when we get our life together – we will …  I have a lot of things on my "someday list." Someday I want to write a novel or maybe a book on worship or the church's relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. I have a great idea for a musical on which I want to work. And then there is the more mundane. Someday I am really going to give my garage a good cleaning or put away all the items that I moved out of my office recently. Someday.

And I add items to the list easily. When I discuss projects with the people I work with, often the projects get added to the someday pile. I mean – you don't expect that this is something that is going to happen now?

Maybe that is what makes this verse a little surprising. The angel comes to Mary with this great message; you will become pregnant and the child you will have will be the Messiah. And it might have been natural for Mary to add that little message to the someday pile. I mean, she knew that someday she would become pregnant. She was engaged to Joseph, and they had every intention of bringing up a family. And now the angel was saying that one of her children would be the Messiah – someday.

But Mary didn't hear the angel that way. She didn't hear someday; she heard now. And a pregnancy now was impossible because she was a virgin. But what Mary hears is exactly the message the angel intended to convey. Mary, this message is not about someday; it is about now.

Christmas always is. Christmas isn't about adding something to your someday list. Jesus stepped down from heaven into our now. He didn't come for your someday; his sacrifice was to impact who you are right now. He came to change this world for the better right now. Christmas was never intended to be a pie in the sky, someday thing. It is about now!

Welcome to Christmas, a day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. But we need to make sure that Christmas doesn't impact your someday. Let Christmas affect your now.

(Originally Published on December 24, 2009.)

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 10