It’s hard to think about Christmas if you have no job – especially if thinking of Christmas means presents, elaborate decorations, and more food than can possibly be eaten in one setting. 

It’s hard to think about Christmas if it means beating the crowd to get the best sales on the most popular items because that’s what “everyone” wants.

It’s hard to think about Christmas when it’s all about getting, and about giving only because you feel obligated to return in kind.

It’s hard to think about Christmas when hearts are hard and cold, and we concentrate mainly on ourselves.

It’s hard to think about Christmas if the meaning is wrapped up in a cute baby in a crib surrounded by sweet animals and angels.  If there is no meaning beyond such coziness, the luster disappears quickly.

It’s hard to think about Christmas if the Child appears suddenly without any preparation -- if there is no reason for the Child’s appearance, other than to have a feel-good season of the year.

With preparation, with contemplation, with prayer, and with faith, Christmas can bring the joy for which we search.  So that is why wehave the season of Advent.  In it we take the time to consider where we are in our lives, and why we need the gift of the Christ-child.  We begin this first season of the church year with a confession of our participation in the world’s suffering.  In other words, “What do I do that perpetuates the suffering around me?  If I acted differently in some way, how would things around me change?” 

But Advent is not all about doing.  It is about seeing; it is about listening, it is about living in hope.  The blue candles, the blue altar hangings, the blue color of Advent points to the hope that we have in the Christ-child.  It reminds us of Christ’s coming in the past, his presence today, and his coming to us in the future.  Such is the basis of our hope.

It’s easy to think about Christmas when we are prepared.  It is easy to receive the joy of Christmas when we realize from whence we came, and that God in the new Christ-child makes us new again.

It is easy to think about Christmas when we can hear God speaking through a new life that is in the suffering world with us, one of us.

Well, if not easy – it is easier to think of Christmas when we see God working in the world bringing new beginnings.  It is easier to think of Christmas when we trust that our home is God's home and that God is coming once again to dwell with us. 

I invite you into Advent, a time to prepare to receive Emmanuel – the God with us.

In each service on Sundays morning for four weeks, we worship in anticipation of God coming to us.  And, on Sunday, December 11, at 5:00 we have set aside a very special time to worship with our partner churches on Wisconsin Avenue, in a Service of Lessons and Carols for Advent.  Please come and contemplate the meaning of Christmas through what comes before.

 

Pastor Barbara

 

It’s hard to think about Christmas if you have no job – especially if thinking of Christmas means presents, elaborate decorations, and more food than can possibly be eaten in one setting. 

It’s hard to think about Christmas if it means beating the crowd to get the best sales on the most popular items because that’s what “everyone” wants.

It’s hard to think about Christmas when it’s all about getting, and about giving only because you feel obligated to return in kind.

It’s hard to think about Christmas when hearts are hard and cold, and we concentrate mainly on ourselves.

It’s hard to think about Christmas if the meaning is wrapped up in a cute baby in a crib surrounded by sweet animals and angels.  If there is no meaning beyond such coziness, the luster disappears quickly.

It’s hard to think about Christmas if the Child appears suddenly without any preparation -- if there is no reason for the Child’s appearance, other than to have a feel-good season of the year.

With preparation, with contemplation, with prayer, and with faith, Christmas can bring the joy for which we search.  So that is why wehave the season of Advent.  In it we take the time to consider where we are in our lives, and why we need the gift of the Christ-child.  We begin this first season of the church year with a confession of our participation in the world’s suffering.  In other words, “What do I do that perpetuates the suffering around me?  If I acted differently in some way, how would things around me change?” 

But Advent is not all about doing.  It is about seeing; it is about listening, it is about living in hope.  The blue candles, the blue altar hangings, the blue color of Advent points to the hope that we have in the Christ-child.  It reminds us of Christ’s coming in the past, his presence today, and his coming to us in the future.  Such is the basis of our hope.

It’s easy to think about Christmas when we are prepared.  It is easy to receive the joy of Christmas when we realize from whence we came, and that God in the new Christ-child makes us new again.

It is easy to think about Christmas when we can hear God speaking through a new life that is in the suffering world with us, one of us.

Well, if not easy – it is easier to think of Christmas when we see God working in the world bringing new beginnings.  It is easier to think of Christmas when we trust that our home is God's home and that God is coming once again to dwell with us. 

I invite you into Advent, a time to prepare to receive Emmanuel – the God with us.

In each service on Sundays morning for four weeks, we worship in anticipation of God coming to us.  And, on Sunday, December 11, at 5:00 we have set aside a very special time to worship with our partner churches on Wisconsin Avenue, in a Service of Lessons and Carols for Advent.  Please come and contemplate the meaning of Christmas through what comes before.

 

Pastor Barbara