Pastor David A. Aaker

Pastor Aaker was ordained into the Christian ministry on June 17, 1973. He served congregations in Northern Minnesota and Eastern North Dakota for 33 years. He came to St. Paul Lutheran in Le Center, MN in August of 2005. He and his wife Faye have 5 children and 6 grandchildren. He is the co-author of The Bereavement Ministry Program – A Guide for Churches. This book was first published in 1998. The second edition was published in March of 2009.

Pastor Aaker serves on the Le Center Food Shelf Board, the response team for the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s office, and is part of the Le Sueur County Emergency Operations Center. He also serves as chaplain for the pastors in the Minnesota River Conference.

Office Phone - 507-357- 2212
Home Phone - 507-357-4805
Cell Phone - 612-756-3893

Emmanuel – God With Us December 24, 2011
Christmas Eve 2011

Today is about Emmanuel – God with us. Hopefully the words and the music are all part of the way in which God comes close to you and to me.

There are times in your life and in mine when we want our friends and our family to be with us. Tonight is often one of those nights. When we are sick or when we go through the death in our families we want our closest friends and our families to be with us. We always want someone to be with us in those big moments of our life. I remember several years ago standing in the concentration camp at Auschwitz, in Poland. It was so devasting to stand there. I was so grateful that I could stand there with my son. I would not have wanted to be there alone. There are all kinds of times that you and I want another person to be with us.

There is as a part of this day also a deep desire I think, for us to know that God is with us. Yes we want our loved ones to be with us, but we also need to know that God is with us.

The word Emmanuel is a holy word. The prophet Isaiah spoke it out, his name shall be called Emmanuel. The question that many of us come with is not, is there a God? We certainly would not be here tonight, if we didn't believe that there was a God, but the real question is – Is God with us? I mean, is God here? Here in this place, tonight?

During our days of Advent we heard words from the prophet Isaiah as he spoke of being in the wilderness and the promise of God that the flowers would bloom in the wilderness. Many people have shared with me of their times of being in the wilderness, some of those times when they still could not see the flowers blooming in their lives. The people of Israel wondered at times if God was with them in the wilderness. So God gave them sign after sign. He gave them manna to eat. He gave them quail to eat. He gave them water in the wilderness. He gives to you and me our homes, our food, our clothing, our families, he gives us love.

The promise of God in this day, in this night is that He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is the God who comes to be with us right where we are. He comes in the middle of our messes. That is the message of Christmas. Our lives, yours and mine, are not neat and tidy, at least most of the time, there are times when our lives seem like a real mess. It is precisely into the mess in your life and in mine that this Christ child is born. The message is not that God protects us from the messes of life, but rather that he comes to give us courage and faith and strength in the midst of the messes of life.

When sickness comes, it messes up our lives. When marriages break up and families are torn apart, our lives get messed up. When death enters our lives, our lives get all messed up. It is precisely into all of those moments in your life and in mine when our lives are messed up that this Christ is born for us.

Tonight is a sacred night. It is a holy night. It is the night that we celebrate the birth of the very Son of God, He is Emmanuel, He is God with us. And once again we proclaim that God is faithful. He was faithful in the promises He made to Abraham and Sarah and has continued throughout all of history and He will continue in all of your history and all of mine to be faithful. His name is Emmanuel - He is God with us.

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BEGIN WITH A BREW

I have continued to be blessed by Kirk Jones and his wonderful writings about resting in the storm. Every week I get an email from him called BREW in the morning. He would invite you and me to begin each morning with a BREW. When I get up each morning I first of all turn on the coffee pot. But the brew he invites us to is a different brew. So I do invite you t o begin this day and every day with a brew, not necessarily a cup of coffee, although, that is the way many of us often begin. But begin with a brew. The first is to be still. Don’t rush into the day. Find a few minutes just to be still. That is the B of the brew. Secondly, we are to receive God’s love. Know this day that you are loved by God. He has claimed you and Named you. You belong to Him. That is the R of the BREW. Thirdly, we are to embrace our personhood and our community. Can you and I love ourselves this day, as God has loved us. Can you and I love our world today, as God loved the world and gave himself for it. That is the E of the Brew. And finally, welcome the day. Welcome what God is going to do with you and through you in this day. That is the W in the brew. So I invite each of you to begin each day with a brew. God bless you as you drink in the life and the spirit of God this day.