4th Sunday in Advent

We had a most wonderful celebration yesterday, the 4th Sunday in Advent.  Our theme for 4th of Advent was the Incarnation.  Doug preached an amazing sermon that challenged us to think about how we REALLY feel about God coming so near to us in the person of Jesus Christ.  He said that if we allow God to come really close to our lives then God will also see all of the messiness, all of the failure and sometimes we feel too much shame.  But that is when we must remember that the whole point of the incarnation is to redeem all of those sad points and usher us into a new and beautiful relationship with God.  One of Doug's points was that God ultimately became separated from his son in order for us to become his children.  It was a beautiful and poignant thought as we ponder Christ's entrance into our world once again.  Our music director, Rigael Drake, sang one of the most beautiful renditions of O Holy Night I've ever heard.  Rigael's usual style is gospel but he really captured the essence of this song on Sunday.  It brought me to tears, actually.  The whole day was such a warm celebration of the love that surrounds us.  The kids shared in a wonderful Christmas pageant after the service, we had some dear friends in for a beef burgundy stew lunch, and all in all I was wrapped in feelings of love and warmth all day.
I feel inspired and ready to enter these final days of our journey towards Christmas. Reading Bonhoeffer and Nouwen is defintely an amazing way to prepare for the incarnation once again.