Year after year I proclaim that there shall be no Christmas celebration until my turkey is eaten.  Year after year my family challenges me on this concept and tries to sneak Christmas music and festive trees into everyday events.  I guess you could call it our tradition.  And then, without fail, we eat the sacred turkey on the last Thursday in November and I’m suddenly in the mood to sing, decorate, and do all things festive!  It’s only a few days after our feathered friend was consumed and already our house is turning into a winder wonderland of sorts (which is really fun with a two year old… “don’t touch that” is the new favorite expression around our house!).

Yesterday, many of you helped to decorate the church as we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth and incarnation.  Thank you to everyone who stayed and helped out in such festive moods.  As I walked around the building today, it looks great!  As I look at both the decorations at my house and here at church, I’m reminded of the complexities of celebrating Christmas in a world where Christ is not the center of the holiday season.  Short of the small nativity in my house, would anyone recognize that our home celebrates Christ at Christmas?  We have the same tree as the neighbor down the street, the same lights, the same snowmen, the same gift wrap.  As we enter into the season of preparation, known as Advent, I want to spend some time looking at how we celebrate Christmas and why we do what we do.  Why do we have Christmas trees?  Why do we set aside the 25th day of December?  What in the world does a jolly guy in a red suit have to do with Jesus? These things are all connected to Christ but we’ve begun to loose their meaning in the midst of our culture.  This year, I hope to redeem our traditional celebration of Jesus’ birth and remind us why we celebrate the way we do.  It should be a fun but reflective way to come into the season (but without any Superheroes this year!).

But before we enter December and Advent, don’t forget to join us for the Dwelling Place this Wednesday evening at 7pm.  I forgot to mention it Sunday but our bi-monthly gathering was shifted to the 5th Wednesday of November due to Thanksgiving.  So if you thought you missed out last week on this special time of prayer and worship, you’re in luck because it’s this week 🙂  Hope to see you there!

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Jan