The angel announced it – “Today a Savior has been born to you.”  Savior.  A word familiar to most of us.  We’ve no doubt encountered it in scripture and church, but do we truly understand the full impact of the entrance of the Savior into our world?  This year during Advent we are exploring what it means that a Savior was born, and not only born, but born “to you” as the angel announced to the Shepherds of the Bethlehem hills.  We’ll discover that the Savior enters the scene at the darkest of moments, illuminating our lives and giving us hope.  We’ll notice that God’s salvation often arrives by surprise, at a time and in a way we might not have been expecting.  We’ll learn that God brought salvation by way of wonder, that the central mystery of the Christian faith is in fact the gospel message meant for all the world.  And we’ll pause to ponder that the Savior was sent to be embraced, cradled in our own arms like those of his mother Mary and those like Simeon who have been longing for God’s salvation to appear in their midst.  In the advent of Jesus Christ, a Savior has arrived on the scene, entering the life of this world amid all the joy and pain of human existence, and transforming our reality for today and all eternity.