Merry Christmas! - November/December 2021
Dear friends and family,
After a full year of so many firsts - new area, new home, new friends - and we are so grateful for so much, how the Lord has provided us with opportunities and blessings throughout. We are also so excited for another first: our first Christmas in our own home!
Christmas has always been one of our favorite times of the year. Of course, Genesis loves it too, and was excited to put Christmas lights up, both inside and outside, as well as decorating the Christmas tree, making Christmas cookies and sharing them with the neighbors, and driving around to see the beautifully decorated houses in the area.
We've also been enjoying a much-needed relapse from so much hustle and bustle of having traveled dozens of times to so many churches and ministries around the country and even overseas. It has been quite a year for us, with only a few "free" Sunday's in the calendar all year. As we begin to plan our schedule for 2022, it is already pretty filling up, even into September! It includes speaking at camps in Georgia, New Mexico and Washington, as well as trips to Miami, Phoenix and San Diego so far. We would love to go to Mexico in 2022 as well, since it is more open than other Hispanic countries (due to COVID), but have yet to find the right connection(s) there.
So, in between all of these travels, December has been a month spent at home. We were blessed by the visit of my parents, Mark and Carol Mattix, for Thanksgiving and a couple weeks after that. While home for December, I was also asked to share at our local assembly, and I was excited to give a brand-new series of messages, which we've called "The Ugliest Family Tree". It's been a joy to recount the lives of some of the great mothers in the family tree of Christ, starting with Rahab the Prostitute, Ruth the foreigner, while continuing tomorrow with "the wife of Uriah", and lastly that of Mary from Nazareth.
We are all aware that there is a certain romanticism to the story of Christ's birth, and an accompanying "squeaky clean" view of the manger scene with the cute little farm animals. Perhaps we quietly prefer it, because it goes with a comfortable perception of Christmas - gifts, glitter, family, and fun. The reality of Christ's birth, and even the stories of the above mentioned women in His genealogy, we may rather see censored or at least "cleaned up", than to tell them properly. The story of Christ, seen even in his family tree, is one of sorrow, sadness, loss, and an ever darkening sense of despair. It's Rahab's scarlet cord, her last hope as the walls of Jericho crash around her. It's Ruth pulling a blanket over her trembling body at midnight, while laying at Boaz's feet. It's Bathsheba kneeling at the grave of her murdered husband, wondering what would become of her. It's an adolescent Mary, alone and attacked by doubts, sitting in her bedroom, after the angel's light has dissipated. Christmas is so much more than a story of a birth, it is the genesis of true, lasting hope. Christmas is Emanuel, God with us, stooping so low as to stand among us and promising what seems impossible: forgiveness, redemption, second chances, and reconciliation with the Father, all through His cross. Glory to God in the Highest!
(Pictured: Newest artwork for our social media pages, we also have the version in Spanish if you'd like)
"The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone...
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
(Isaiah 9:2, 6, ESV)
Prayer Requests:
1. Thankful for the Lord's provision and blessing this year!
2. Praying for next year's calendar, while thinking of many areas, especially overseas, that aren't making it easy to minister in currently.
3. Thankful for the multiple churches and camps that have reached out to us for 2022, may the Lord be glorified in these opportunities.
4. For all of us, as Christ's light in this darkening world, shine brighter still this Christmas.
God bless and encourage each one of you,
Christopher and Genesis Mattix
