Reflections From Sunday Evening

Next comes Christmas! Recently I had a brief conversation with one of our members who commented on being at a Christmas Eve service a couple of years ago. He said it made him feel like he was 8 years old again! I keep thinking about that. There was certainly nothing like Christmas when we were 8 years old. Many of us remember the traditions. With our family Christmas Eve started at church. We always had our children's Christmas program on Christmas Eve. I am not sure how many times I went through the Christmas Story as a shepherd or a star or some other character. Somewhere in that time we would have a visit from Santa! I would take with me the brown paper sack with some hard Christmas candy, some walnuts (they filled up the sack) and an orange. When we left our church family it was on to my grandparents for a meal of oyster stew. Then it was my job to crawl around the tree and distribute a present to everyone. Then it was home for what seemed like the "longest night of the year." By the way...As I write this we are embarking on the longest night of the year. Somewhere I read it is going to be the longest night in the history of earth! The sun goes down earlier and comes up later than any other day. It is the longest night - the Winter Solstice. But there is a good part of this. We are turning the corner. Tomorrow the days will begin to last a little longer. The first day of winter moves forward with the promise of spring coming back around. We are heading in the right direction! When I was 8 years old we had a way of shortening the longest night. We just got up ridiculously early! Then the joy would continue. Christmas. Make Christmas Eve service part of your Christmas. It is a time to sing our favorite carols. We will share the Christmas Story. We light the Christ Candle. We share at the Table of the Lord. We light a candle and sing Silent Night. We take the darkness of night and turn it into a night of joy where heaven touches earth and stirs our hearts. We have services beginning at 3:00 p.m. with our children/family service. We follow with 2 services at 5:00 and 7:00 and then a service at 9:00 and 11:00. I am stirring up the 8 year old in me once again. I can hardly wait for Christmas Eve! See you then. It's been a great day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve