Holiday Inn used to advertise that if you stayed with them, there would be no surprises, no foul-ups on your reservations. No matter how carefully anyone plans, however, even Holiday Inns, there are always going to be surprises.

A policeman asked the lady who reported a robbery at her home, "Why didn't you report this right away, when you found all the drawers open and the contents scattered about?" "I didn't suspect a thing," said the women, "I just thought my husband had been looking for a clean shirt." It takes a lot to surprise some people!

Can you imagine what life would be like if everything were controlled and predictable, if there were no surprises? Think of it! No upsets, no miracles, no unexpected notes or calls from friends with whom we had lost touch, no surprise parties, no sudden windfalls, no incredible endings to novels or movies, no stunning discoveries of beauty amidst dull days and dismal landscapes.

To be sure, there are unpleasant surprises: the A/C goes down (always on the Fourth of July or Labor Day), car trouble, the flu, a favorite team loses, a hero proves to be human and fallible. They only make the pleasant surprises brighter by contrast.

Franz Joseph Haydn's 94th Symphony became know as the "Surprise Symphony" because of a single loud chord in the slow (second) movement. Many thought he introduced the chord to startle listeners who might be nodding off, but we are all enriched by beautiful surprises, not only in music, but also in all of life. We would be poor, indeed, if we could not respond with joyful surprise whenever a spouse or friend speaks affectionately to us, or when a child or grandchild comes running to give us a warm hug, or when someone compliments us on work we have done or on the clothes we are wearing.

The most marvelous and astonishing surprise of all is surely the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul can hardly contain himself as he thinks of the gift of forgiveness and new life that are possible for us through a risen and living Jesus Christ. "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:33, 36) Isn't that why we find Christmas so exciting? It is not the surprise packages we open; it is the surprise package that was in the manger, God revealing his amazing love in Christ. Who would not be thunderstruck at the thought of God knocking at the door of someone as small and sinful as we are, offering his gracious acceptance and affirmation, assuring us we are still his sons and daughters?

Look surprised! God really does love you!

Surprising, startling, astounding God: we have taken you for granted, conceived of you as some kind of ancient hero to be memorialized, rather than as a present-day giver of amazing and undeserved grace. You labor still to shield and armor with your Spirit those of us trying to make our way in a world that is not always friendly and peaceful. Astonishingly, O God, you still create love in cold, hard hearts, still bring to life dead hopes and shattered dreams, still blunt the sword of evil; and still guard the hearts and spirits of the most gentle and innocent. Stir up excitement and awe in those people who experience life as a tedious, trackless desert or as a wearing, wearying grind, we pray in the strong name of Jesus Christ, so surprisingly God with us and God in us. Amen.