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Dear St. John’s,
The wait is almost over! After weeks of lighting Advent candles and singing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” Christmas is nearly here.
Depending on how much cleaning, shopping, baking and present-wrapping we want to accomplish before it arrives, this realization may spark anxiety as well as joy within our hearts.
But here’s the thing: Christmas will arrive whether we have bought the right gifts, prepared a sumptuous feast, decorated the tree – or not. The greatest gift of all, the birth of Baby Jesus as God incarnate, is coming. There’s nothing we can do to earn or deserve it, and there’s nothing we can do to halt it. God loves us, full stop. And God is determined to come to us, wherever we are in our lives, whether we think we’re ready or not.
I hope your holiday preparations have gone as planned, or close to it. But even if they haven’t, it’s okay. Jesus came to us as an infant born in a stable; Jesus will not mind if our house is messy and the cookies are a little burnt.
Let us open our hearts to the miraculous gift of the incarnation, as we enter into the true joy of Christmas.
Rev. Sharon
P.S. We’d love to worship with you during this holiday season. Here’s a list of our services, from the last Sunday of Advent through our Epiphany celebration.
Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 24 at 10:30 a.m. Deacon John will lead a quiet Morning Prayer service.
Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. We will celebrate the miracle of Jesus’ birth with a musical prelude at 9:45 p.m. and a choral Eucharist at 10 p.m.
Christmas Day, Dec. 25. We continue our celebration with Christmas carols and Eucharist at 10 a.m.
First Sunday after Christmas, Dec. 31 at 10:30 a.m. Deacon John leads Morning Prayer.
Epiphany Sunday, Jan. 7 at 10:30 a.m. We celebrate the arrival of the magi at the manger and present our own talents and talent stories during a festive choral Eucharist.

Dear St. John’s,

Advent is a time of waiting for Christ – both Jesus’ arrival as an infant in Bethlehem and his return to us at an undisclosed date in the future. Things can get a bit hectic and stressful as we try to prepare for the annual Christmas celebration of Jesus’ birth. And, for some people, the holidays are hard as they deal with feelings of loss or grief, especially when the rest of the world seems to be telling them to be joyful.
In the midst of all the busy-ness, I urge you to take some quiet moments to reflect on the real reason for our celebrations: that the all-powerful Creator of the universe loved us enough to be born as a vulnerable human infant to live and die among us.
Let us remember how Jesus served others and follow his example. This weekend offers opportunities at St. John’s to serve our community at the Saturday Luncheon Social, help decorate the church on Saturday afternoon, or assist with our first Family Crafts event from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday.
And if you’re feeling sad or finding this “merry” season difficult, please join us at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 20, for a Longest Night worship service of reflection, comfort and hope. We’ll gather on the evening before the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, to acknowledge our pain and sadness and then to remember the light that still shines in the darkness.
The service is open to everyone, whatever their faith tradition or spiritual beliefs. So if you have a neighbor you think would appreciate this service, please invite them.
I look forward to seeing you all at some of our many upcoming activities and services as we await and celebrate Emmanuel, God with us.
.
Rev. Sharon

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a note from rev. sharon

a note from rev. sharon

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