Pastor's Article

There will be Christmas this year.  We won’t be packed in the sanctuary. We won’t sing hymns while huddled close. But Christ is coming. God will dwell among us as a child and we shall rejoice.  What’s more, this Christmas at Faith will be radiant with beauty.  

Advent Festivities will have three main parts: 1) Holden Evening Prayer, 2) Advent Workshop, and 3) Prayer in the Sanctuary. The decades-long tradition of Advent Holden Evening Prayer will continue this year online Wednesdays at 7pm, Dec. 2nd, 9th, and 16th. In addition to the beautiful music, during Holden Evening Prayer I will be teaching a three-part series called “Heaven, Resurrection, and Hope,” exploring how the bible speaks about heaven that may surprise you.  

We will also continue our tradition of the Advent Workshop in which families can create unique holiday crafts. We’ll provide all the materials you need and a festive atmosphere to create decorations and gifts for the holidays. We simply ask that you register your family for a timeslot on Saturday, Dec. 5th by contacting the office.  

Finally, Dec. 1st through 17th you can sign up to spend time in Prayer and Contemplation in the Sanctuary. The labyrinth will be set up along with a variety of prayer stations to help you connect with God through music, writing, coloring, and stillness. Sign up online or by contacting the office.

Christmas will have three services. Christmas Eve at 9pm and Christmas Morning at 9:30am we will have online worship services. To make these services extra special, our Worship and Music Director Luke has been working with musicians to pre-record music so we can experience the grandeur of dozens of voices and instruments praising God together. 

But it is our Christmas afternoon service about which I am most excited. We are going to create a Living Nativity. From 3-6pm on Christmas Eve, Faith’s courtyard will become the little town of Bethlehem with farm animals in pens, lights shining from every surface, and musicians dressed as angels singing hosanna from the literal rooftops. At its heart will be the Christ child, and each visitor will be asked to bring a can of food as a gift to lay at the manger.

Christmas will be different this year. But as the Grinch discovers at the end of Dr. Seuss’s classic tale, it is not the external trappings that make Christmas, but Jesus’ love. That divine love we have in abundance.  This Christmas will not be a pale imitation of years past. This Christmas will be boldly unique. And it will be remembered forever, for it will shine with the true magic of Christmas: celebrating Christ in our midst.

Your Brother in Christ, Pastor Ben Colahan