Advent Journey Day 22: 4th Sunday in Advent

We made it!  4 Sundays of Advent have now passed and Christmas eve is the day after tomorrow!  We had a wonderful day today.  I preached on The Ghost of Christmas to Come continuing our series of contrasting Dickens' The Christmas Carol with texts from Isaiah. Because the love of God is so deep and his reach so long, it is never too late for us to begin living into a more hopeful future. But the legacy we want to have when we're gone begins being built today.  So start now to live into the legacy that God wants you to have!  The music was lovely and prepared us well for being on the brink of Christmas!
We had a special baby dedication today as well.  Little Isaac was born with downs syndrome and some serious heart and stomach problems.  We almost lost him a few times and the entire church was rallied around this family, praying for his recovery.  They spent months in the hospital.  They have an older son, who is 2.5 years old, and he's a real bundle of energy.  He was pretty excited about the events that were unfolding today!
Anyway...today was the day to bring Isaac before the throne of God's grace and bless his little life. It was a great moment.  Baby Isaac was quite fascinated with Pastor Doug's microphone! The mother just rejoiced with total glee when we sang the song of welcome.   It was a special moment for our church family and for Isaac's family.  
So now we have just a few more hours until we celebrate the birth of Christ.  I hope your advent journey has readied you for the joy and celebration that now awaits us.

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.

Advent day 22, 4th Sunday

Well, the journey through Advent is almost complete. We lit the fourth candle during our worship service today and had a great worship celebration. I did the children's lesson during the service and showed a beautiful batik of a nativity scene that was a gift from Sri Lanka. I spoke of how we are about to celebrate Jesus' birthday and commented on some of "funny" characters that were invited to Jesus' birthday party...sheep and shepherds and kings. I asked the kids if they had ever had a birthday party in a barn. They giggled at that one. Then I asked them if they had to give presents when it was their birthday party. They said no, they get them! And I proceeded to share with them that that's the best part of celebrating Jesus' birthday...we get invited to the party and get the gifts! The gifts of God's unconditional love, his peace and his presence that follow us no matter where in the world we are. The four candles are burning brightly now...hope, peace, joy, and love. We wait now until Christmas eve when we light the Christ candle...the one who brings hope, peace, joy and love into our world. May these gifts be yours this week and beyond.