December 26, 2021

What are some of the ways you were aware of the “greater meaning” of Christmas as a child? How has that changed as an adult, or has it changed? As a kid I always enjoyed the lights and the special feelings of Christmas. My memories immediately go to Canada where I spent my childhood and I think of my parents’ Christmas gatherings and my dad’s “famous punch.” Since my dad was the pastor, I sat with my mom and sisters for Christmas Eve services, and they were a mix of the busy-ness of pastors on Christmas and a that special feeling of Christmas carols and candlelight.

My awareness of the greater meaning of Christmas grew over time. I saw it happening for the Bever boys just last night when we went to see the lights at the Ingleside Hotel. Afterwards we walked through the “Streets of Bethlehem” display and one of my boys observed that Mary looked awfully happy for someone who just had a baby! It makes me think of these two images of the nativity

.         

I don’t know for sure when the storybook version of a baby and animals was replaced with the richer and more human story lines. Perhaps becoming a mother was the beginning. My early imaginations of what it would be like to be a teen mom in a Christian subculture, then the later experience of the pain and fear of childbirth, the weight of my role in loving a child to adulthood. In time I became more aware of the human Mary, a mother who had to give her own reputation and her own son up to an invisible God’s purposes from day one. Or Joseph, a father who may never have felt belonging among his fellow husbands and fathers. And travelers who risked their own safety to visit a family who was not even of their own culture.

Did they ever wonder of God’s goodness? Or like the heroes of Hebrews 11, did they die with faith that their humble story of sacrifice and suffering was not in vain? They did not live to see how their humble story changed the world. A great move of God that arrived in the most quiet way, a foreshadow of a savior who would die in the most humiliating of ways, as a criminal of Rome. How is it true that that story is God’s story? If you don’t dismiss it outright for that reason, it makes you think — maybe our human inclinations to make our most deeply held values loud, visible, powerful, isn’t God’s way? That’s a discussion for another day — or maybe Sunday?

Sunday December 26

This week we are keeping it simple. Rather than watching a video ahead of time, I’m inviting you to come and enjoy a simple meal of chicken and asparagus soup and salad, sing some Christmas carols, and watch a recent interpretation of the Christmas story called “The Messengers.” We will resume our series on the Holy Spirit on January 2.

I hope you can come and watch with us in person, but if you need or prefer to worship at home, here’s a link to a playlist of Christmas music and the video. And we will continue singing Christmas music into the New Year, there are 12 days of Christmas after all!

The part we will watch on Sunday is from 1:21:23-2:00:22

And of course, Zoom is also available here! We will be live on Zoom from 5:30-7 pm.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas to you and your families,

Pastor Christina