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Some of my earliest Christmas memories include holding a burning candle and singing “Joy to the World.” At my home church on Christmas Eve, we end the service by singing “Silent Night” and all the lights are turned out. Then on the last verse everyone, following the pastor’s direction, raises their candle high into the sky on the last verse. There are no words that can describe a moment like this…just pure awe and joy.

Then all of the sudden after a brief pause, the lights come on and we sing a hearty and happy “Joy to the World.” This is one of my favorite things I experience at my home church.

On this third Sunday in Advent, we take a moment to stop in the busyness of our lives and receive Christ, our joy. This is what the tradition of the pink candle is all about: to take one week out of the four weeks of Advent and rejoice!

This Sunday we will take a close look, at Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was the first to experience the joy of Christ. I hope to see you at church!

Prayer: Almighty God, we thank you that you make joy available to us at all times and all places through our faith in Jesus Christ. Like Mary, help us to embrace the joy that is bestowed upon us through the new life we encounter all around us. Help us to share joy with others, especially this season of Advent. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. 

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This past week I bought my son the book “The Night Before Christmas.” It starts: “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse…” We know this story, and some of us may know all the words. How many of you had this book read to you when you were a child? During this season of Christmas we are called to remember. We turn on the radio and remember (well most of the words) to the Christmas carols that come on. We remember loved ones as we hang ornaments on the tree, but most importantly we remember the story of the Christ- child.

This past week in Bible study, we shared stories of our earliest Christmas memories and we all we able to share, in great detail, some of our earliest memories of Christmas. There is something powerful that happens when we remember isn’t there? In our time of remembering we honor the past, we apply what we have learned to the present, and we look towards the future with hope.

On this second week of Advent, we will light the candle of love, and are called to remember the greatest love story ever written about: the gift of Jesus Christ.

I hope you will come and celebrate the second week of Advent this Sunday!

Prayer: God, you are the true embodiment of love. Thank you for giving us the most amazing gift of love, in Jesus Christ. Help us to once again prepare to receive this amazing gift into our lives. Help us also prepare again to remember our own stories, and our own callings. Help us to not be afraid to share the ways in which we have experienced your love with others. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. 

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I am so excited that Advent starts on Sunday! You see, I am one of those people. I love this season. I am, after all, a December baby so I just can’t get enough of this time of year. There are signs all around us that Christmas is coming. I was one of the brave people who went out on Black Friday and let me tell you, stores were ready to remind everyone that Christmas is coming. Santa is already available for visits at the local mall, people are putting up their Christmas tree, and presents are being bought.

In my house, the tradition that signals that Christmas is coming is when we put up the Christmas tree and stockings and fill the Advent calendar. My son, Dean, helped me put up the Christmas tree this week and decorate it and only two ornaments were destroyed in the process, but for me and for Dean there was something magical about lighting the tree and seeing all the ornaments which all hold special meeting.

I am sure that you also have signs in your life and your family that Christmas is coming. What a beautiful and joyful season this is! Sometimes this season can pass us by so quickly because there seems to be so much to do and so many activities to attend. So, in worship each week, we mark the coming of Christ with the Advent wreath, with Christmas carols, and special prayers, and Scripture that points to the fact that our “redemption is coming near” (Luke 21:28b).

This is what our Advent Sermon Series on “The Redemption of Scrooge” by Matt Rawle is all about. This book goes through the beloved story “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and follows Scrooge on his journey to find redemption. The premise of this book is if Scrooge can find redemption, then so can we.

There is something about this story, “A Christmas Carol” that resounds with each and every one of us. I think it is because it intertwines that past, present, and future. Matt Rawle tells us this is what Advent is all about; he says, during this season “we recall the events leading up to Jesus’ birth two thousand years ago, we anticipate the ways in which Christ enters our lives today and we look forward to Christ’s promised return.”[i]

During Advent we become nostalgic as we remember family traditions from the past, we participate in events in the present, and we look towards the future of the second coming of Christ.

So we are on our way on to the first Sunday in Advent and we prepare once again for Christ to come and enter our hearts. And as we journey with Scrooge to redemption I hope that each and every one of you is able to find hope, love, joy, and peace during this very busy season.

I hope you can come on Sunday to experience the beauty of this season.

Prayer:
Christ our hope, we thank you that you continue to offer us redemption. Help us to let go of our past regrets so that we can truly enjoy this beautiful season as we anticipate your coming. Help us to identity those who are struggling this season and reach out to them, that we too, may be bearers of your hope. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. 

References

[i] Matt Rawle. The Redemption of Scrooge Leader Guide. Abingdon Press: Nashville, TN, 2016. P. 16 & 17.

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Everything Thanksgiving my mom asks everyone at the table “What are you thankful for?” When I was younger I always used to roll my eyes thinking not again mom, can we just sit here and eat? Now I have come to really enjoy this practice of giving thanks. This year, when asked this question I will say, “I am thankful for my family, and thankful for my churches.” I am so glad I get to journey alongside you in this crazy thing we call ministry.

God’s blessings in our lives are all around us, but so often we get distracted with the business of life and are unable to see them. A couple of weeks ago we talked about the sisters Martha and Mary. Martha was dashing all around trying to make everything perfect for Jesus, while Mary sat at his feet. Which person were you this past week?

Were you the host and worried about all the details like Martha, or did you get to be a guest and receive wonderful hospitality like Mary? I was blessed to go to my parents’ house and receive wonderful hospitality like Mary. I am always in awe of my parents who make everything look easy. Their house is always clean, their food is always delicious, and they always have time to bestow the gift of love upon their children and grandson. So today I give thanks to God for my family.

What I love about worship, is that every week we have an opportunity to give thanks to God. We do this by singing the hymns, by reading God’s Holy Scripture, by embodying what it means to be the body of Christ, and by praying to God and celebrating that no matter what happens in our lives, that God is with us.

There are so many reasons we have to thank God. Today we celebrate that God is our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer! Come and worship on Sunday where we will have the opportunity to give thanks for each person in the Trinity. 

I really enjoyed the snow we got today. I especially enjoyed watching my son Dean’s reaction to the snow. He was mesmerized, he looked outside with such awe and wonder. He would not even eat breakfast, he was so excited about going outside. There is something beautiful that happens when it snows. The world as we know it transforms and turns into something different, something more beautiful.

The snow blankets imperfections and makes everything look perfect, it makes everything look still. Snow makes us stop the normal schedules of our lives so that we can take the opportunity to appreciate what is always around us. Each year, like a little kid, I hope for snow. I relish in the sight of beautiful snow falling peacefully from the sky.

In our Scripture for this Sunday from 1 Samuel 1: we hear the story of a woman named Hannah who hoped for something more than anything in the world. She hoped to have a baby boy. She had tried to get pregnant, but she was barren. Here we find her crying out to God and her pastor. She was so distraught that her pastor thought she was drunk.

Have you ever hoped for something so intently that you could not focus on anything else? Perhaps it was the livelihood of yourself, your spouse, your children or your friends? Hannah was consumed with grief over her barrenness. She could not eat, she could not sleep, and she was being taunted by another wife of her husband for her inability to have children.

She was in the depths of despair. If you have ever struggled with infertility or known anyone who has, it is said that this type of pain is some of the deepest you can feel. These feelings are consuming and run the gamut from longing to hoping, to losing hope, to being angry with God and each other. So many people do not share their struggle with infertility because they are embarrassed or they cannot find the words to even start to share. They think something is wrong with them, when in actually there is nothing wrong with them. So many different things can cause infertility and sometimes there is no explanation for why it occurs. I have journeyed with many friends and parishioners in their struggle with infertility and it is excruciatingly painful to watch someone you love go through it.

So here Hannah sat bargaining with God. I am sure we have all made these bargaining prayers with God. Prayers that say, “Help me this time God and I promise I will be a better Christian.” This is all Hannah could think of, this was her desperate prayer. Hannah did not give up hope in this desperate moment of her life and neither should we.

People ask me all the time why I decided to become a pastor. First I tell them, “God called me to be a pastor, so I don’t really have a choice, but to be a pastor.” But then I tell people “I have the best job in the world because I get to remind people that there is always hope through our faith in Jesus Christ.”

Come this Sunday to be reminded of the hope that is always available to us through our faith in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:23).

Prayer:

Lord, today we pray for those who have experienced infertility, or those currently experiencing infertility. We pray these people know that they are whole persons, that there is not something wrong with them, that they have nothing to be embarrassed about. That they are beautifully and wonderfully made by you. We pray you take away any shame felt about infertility so that we can share with one another the deepest pain of our hearts, so that we can be there for one another while we cry out to God in desperation. Help us to view the value of others, not by the things they produce in life: like children, or success, or material possessions, but in and of themselves because they are your creation. Thank you for hearing us and our desperate prayers to you and thank you for answering our prayers. Help us to continue to sit with those who feel their prayers have gone answered and to offer your comfort and peace to them. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. 

• Image used with permission from sharefaith.com.