God is at work

Dear Friends,

Advent 4 beckons and the Nativity of our Lord awaits!  This Sunday we hear the story of Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth's house.  The two women are both expecting and they invite us to anticipate Christmas with wonder, love and praise.  

I always marvel at the mystery of Jesus gestating in Mary's womb.  To think that God chose a human being to literally bring God's Son into the world.  That is stunningly beautiful and mysterious.  We are invited to ponder these things between now and Christmas.

I am looking forward to three very different Christmas services.  The 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve pageant service will help us see things through the experience of young children.  The 9:30 p.m. musical prelude will be glorious and the 10:00 p.m. Festival Holy Eucharist will take us into the wondrous truth that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.  The Christmas Day service at 9 a.m. will be quiet and contemplative.  

God is at work in all these ways - through the exuberance of young children, the glory of music and the formality of evening worship and the simplicity of offering morning praise.  A variety of ways to experience the mystery of the Incarnation.  God comes to us yet again.  

Yours in waiting, longing and great expectation,
Shearon+