Dear Friends,
Every year, for weeks on end, this verse runs endless through my head:
Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say: Jesus Christ was born today.
These are the opening words of that great English carol, “Good Christian Friends (Men) rejoice.” and they remind me of what the season is all about—the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As I have been preaching throughout the season of advent, we cannot get to the cross of Christ without first coming to the cradle. We cannot celebrate salvation without recognizing God’s incarnation. And so we worship our Lord Jesus!
We have several opportunities to worship this Christmas weekend. On Christmas Eve we will worship with candlelight services at 5pm and 10pm. Please be sure the proper time is on your calendar since the later service is happening earlier this year. The 5pm service is geared toward families, and children in particular. I don’t want to give away too much of the service, but part of the service will be a Christmas sing along with songs picked by the kids!
The later service will be more traditional, and will include a celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Celebrating the Lord’s Supper as part of Christmas Eve worship remind us that we can’t separate the events of Jesus’ life on earth. His birth makes no sense if he does not come to make us right with God, and his death is far less important if, we don’t remember the significance of his birth.
Christmas falls on Sunday this year, and that morning will have one worship service at 11am, and no Sunday School (we will follow the same schedule 1/1/2017). I know Christmas morning can be busy, and you may be tempted to even skip worship, so let me just say this as clearly as I can: Come as you are. Come celebrate the birth of Jesus and remember the reason for the season.
As this is the last newsletter of 2016, I close with these familiar words:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Blessings,
Pastor John
