Great Expectation and Wonder

I thank my colleague, Dr. Roy Spore, for most of the thoughts below. Please read on.

The time has come. In the tumult of the last few weeks we have strained to hear a voice of hope calling us to new life. We have heard the scriptures call us to that hope. We have prayed for the Holy Spirit to enter into our hearts and our lives. We have decorated our homes with the signs of the season and we have adorned our hearts with love for others. Our minds have focused on the glory about to break forth into the world. We feel that we are ready for God’s new gift of grace.

Monday night we will gather in the worship center to bring our waiting and watching to an end. We will greet one another with warm wishes for a Merry Christmas. We will think of those who cannot be with us and those who are no longer with us and we will offer up our love for them. As the darkness and cold fill the world around us, we will warm ourselves amid family and friends. We will remember with fondness and tears the times we have been together and we will anticipate new and exciting times before us. We will sing the old familiar carols that hold a special meaning on this night. We will hear that old familiar story read again, our minds saying the words in concert because it is so much a part of our faith. And in all this, we will find our hearts strangely warmed.
Then the lights will go down and we will, once again, hear the words from John’s gospel: “In the beginning was the Word ….” The light from a single candle will pass from hand to hand, candle to candle, as the worship center takes on a mystic, warm glow and we sing the haunting, yet comforting, phrase “Silent Night, Holy Night ….” Then we will sing “Joy to the World” as we look upon the lighted candles. At the singing of the last verse, we will raise our candles in celebration of glory to God in the Highest and peace on earth. Then we will remember the Word, “…and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Somehow we will know that the light of Christ has come to us again and burns bright within us. And in all this, our celebration will be complete. Merry Christmas.

Pastor Jack