Pastoral Ponderings December 2024

As you read this pondering, we are headed into Advent and Christmas season. The stores have been ready for Christmas for over a month. Christmas carols have played for 3 weeks. Television ads have featured a Christmas theme since the election. Hallmark has
been showing Christmas movies since the end of October. Now, in the next week the church will transform from Ordinary Time to Advent and then Christmas.

Christmas is the destination for all individual, family and church activities but what about the journey? For many the journey is seen as chores to accomplish in order to prepare for Christmas. Well, to some extent that is true. I wonder if we miss some of the joy by not
focusing on the journey.

During the journey we will pay attention to meal planning, gift buying, event attendance or planning, and community giving and sharing (to name just a few). Are these just another thing to do or do we have the opportunity to think about the people involved. As you
prepare a menu, do you think about different family members and friends favorite foods and how much pleasure you bring to them with this dish? As you purchase and wrap a gift, do you think about the enjoyment they will receive from the gift in the coming year and how you are affecting their lives? When you visit with friends and family do you think about the memories you share and the many roads you have traveled together … moments that will bind you together forever … moments that make you who you are? Are church events another activity to accomplish or do you delight in sharing a special sacred moment in history and the present that binds you eternally in spirit. An event (meal, decorating, giving or worship) that reminds all of us that the bond we share is the essence of our entire being and life. A life grounded and formed from a following of Jesus’ ministry and mission.

When we think about how our past and present, memories and new experiences, and hope and love all come together during our journey to Christmas. I hope your journey is delightful and a joyful experience. When we reach our destination, may we know, within
our hearts, that Advent and the Christmas season has been a blessing we could not have planned or arranged.

Happy Thanksgiving – A Blessed Advent – Merry Christmas
Rev. G