Come Home: God Is Here

Our Advent focus this year has been on the theme of “coming home.” Sometimes it feels as though I am doing anything but that! Last weekend, Lisa and I were in Colorado to celebrate our son’s wedding and all of the delightful family-filled activities around it. Treasured memories abound! Next week, we are headed to Portland for a few days to spend time with our first grandchild and family again, as we were made aware it is the only window to do so on the near horizon. On the road again!

On Christmas Eve, we are again invited to “come home.” No doubt, many in our midst will have done just that. We will recall, however, that above all of our travels and gatherings this year (or to the extent that Covid-19 allows), Christmas is first about “God Coming Home” to us in the person of Jesus. God loved us so much that God was willing to walk in our shoes and invest in our flesh and bone. We’ll explore some of the implications of that willingness, which encourage us to “love as God has already loved us,” and how we might best do some of the preparation long after Advent is behind us which allows God to use us in all of our messy humanity. We help each other recognize how God still believes in us, even when we may struggle to believe in God.

I hope that you and your family can join us in the sanctuary at 1:30, 3:30, 5:30 or 7:00 this Christmas Eve, You can even join us on Facebook Live at 1:30. Either way, we experience the comfort of being a community in Christ! I offer a hearty thanks in advance to all those who have and will serve to make it possible. I pray that we won’t take them for granted.

I should remind you that we will share a single service on Sunday, Dec. 26th, at 9:00 a.m. that includes familiar carols and a special Christmas message from our Bishop Amy Current. A pre-recorded version of this service will also be available on YouTube and our website by 9:00 a.m. Sunday. Hope that many of you can be a part!

No matter whether your travels are taking you home this year or others are making their way to your doorstep, or whether you find yourself in the midst of faces only distantly familiar, know that God has promised that you won’t be alone. For “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Tim