Dear Friends in Christ,

Halfway through Advent, I’m wondering how your preparations for Christmas are coming along. I don’t mean decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, entertaining, or any one of a hundred other “external” tasks.  Rather, I’m wondering how you are inside – where your heart beats and your mind wanders.  For these constitute what Christian Christmas touches.  

On Christmas Eve, we shall sing, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”  In it, we sing “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”  Many interpret this line as geography about a literal birth of a baby named Jesus in Bethlehem.  But really, we’re singing about our hopes and fears – wherever we have lived or live – and how these are met in the “eternal and everywhere” love of God in Christ.  

Which is why several church members and I are preparing a special time, sometimes called a Blue Christmas service. You may think this service, scheduled for next Wednesday evening, is for those who are especially sad at this time of year, but it’s really for anyone having any kind of hard time coming to – and experiencing – this season’s ultimate gifts of the Spirit: the hope, joy, peace, and love that constitute God’s divine holiness coming in a human being – and through any human-being that follows his Way. 

In a time of year when we may be prone to the gravity of our personal feelings pulling us down – as well as in a year in which a “fog of malaise” permeates our society and our breath, I invite you to join us next Wednesday night “in between the hopes and fears of all your years.”  In doing so, perhaps, you’ll be more prepared to receive – and experience – the gift of Christmas itself – in spite of it all.   

Blessings of Advent Preparation for a More Than a Merry Christmas,
Pastor Ed