Blessing & Peace, Family and Friends,
The Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve falls on the same day.
Our Advent sermon series has been based on seeing God through ordinary stuff of life from the book, “Advent in Plain Sight” by Jill J. Duffield. These past three weeks we have dug deep on shocking hope, just peace, fierce joy, and on this 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve, transformative love, to help us learn how to wait.
Wait through Advent, yes, but also wait beyond Advent, beyond the birth of Jesus, beyond the Epiphany. We are still waiting for the complete fulfillment of God’s kin-dom. But on this holy night, we celebrate the beginning and the end of the fulfillment we wait for—Christ’s birth. The arrival of our wondrous Light.
We joyfully light the Christ candle on the Advent wreath, as we tell the story of Christ’s birth and sing carols.
Yes, we will literally turn off the lights. No, seriously. We need the darkness to notice the light. Turning off the lights, sitting in darkness together, can settle and refocus our attention. Outside the walls of the church, we have been so busy turning up the brightness of the lights, the volume of the music, and the pace of our lives in this season that we need help making room to welcome the Christ child. We need help noticing the birth of the Light.
Come as we marry warm fellowship with space for prayer. Come and witness the Light that is born this night; a Light that stays with us in all things, in all places, and in all circumstances.
Turn off the lights, and welcome our wondrous Light, God with us.