December 2022

Take a moment to recall your grandparent's Christmas tree. My grandmother's tree always looked different than the one in my home. Ours was festooned with Disney and Peanuts characters, items purchased at the church craft fair, or decorations made by we kids in our Sunday School classes. By contrast, my grandmother's decorations were from a different era. The handmade decorations had all been sent with their creators to decorate their own trees, or succumbed to decay of time. What remained were items that had stood the test of time: “icicles” made of twisted tin ribbon, globes formed from cones of brightly colored metallic foil, large multi-colored strings of lights, a star (rather than an angel) atop the tree. Her tree looked like something out of “Miracle on 34th Street”, “White Christmas”, or “It's A Wonderful Life”.

Advent is a time when we remember the past, and look to the future. In worship we hear the promises of prophets of old, we tell the story of Jesus's birth, we sing familiar carols. Yet all of this remembrance is meant to orient us to the future: when the child whose birth we honor in this season comes again, to usher in the Kingdom of God here on earth. This season we will continue old traditions, and begin new ones. We will celebrate with friends and family, and we will prepare for a new year, filled with new challenges and new opportunities. Through all that comes, we will carry the hope, the peace, the joy and the love that we celebrate in this season to all we encounter.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jon