It’s amazing to me that we’re here again. Another Advent season gone by and we’re celebrating the gift of Christ in our lives. When did the world speed up? It seems like just yesterday our family was celebrating the first Christmas with our first grandchild and now we have 5 and that first one is 13 years old.
Our theme this year, “Experience Advent: Come to Your Senses”, has really made me do some remembering. Remembering childhood Christmases with the smells of baking and hot chocolate, the sounds of Christmas music and Christmas bells. I remember the feel of snow and wrapping paper and the feel of the Christmas tree, seeing Christmas lights and ornaments (some that I still use today), and the taste of those foods on Christmas day as we sat down at the table and laughed at family stories.
Christmas really is about remembering! Remembering the gift sent on that night so long ago. What were the smells in that stable? What did they eat for a meal? How did that straw feel in the manger? Were the animals quiet or did they bother Mary and Joseph all night long? And what did that night look like for all of them? I thought a lot about that this Advent season. We really can’t begin to know how Mary and Joseph felt that night, but we know what that night meant for us, how it makes us feel today.
On this day, there are people all around us each experiencing this day differently. Some are with family or friends and enjoying the day, others are alone spending this day in the quietness of their homes, some have no home and can’t get to family, others are in the hospital or with someone who is struggling with their health. We can’t begin to understand the many ways people are spending this day, but we can be sure that Christ came into this world for each and every one of us. The love that day was a love that changed this world!
My prayer for each of you this Christmas day is that you can feel that love and share that love with those you have the chance to see today.
Amen and Amen.
Rev. Cheryl Kimble