Grieving and Rejoicing this Christmas

Continued Advent greetings as we continue in this season of watching and waiting, yearning and hoping.

It’s getting close now.  Can you feel it?  Christmas is just around the corner.  Now, I know that this Christmas will be a lot different than usual for so many of us.  A lot of our traditions and rituals will be put on hold this year.  And we grieve for what’s lost.

I just shared an email with our staff and council leadership grieving my sadness that our annual staff and council Christmas party isn’t happening this year.  But I also shared some memories of parties from the past and encouraged them to do the same.

I’m sure you could make your own list of things that won’t quite be the same this Christmas.  And I encourage you to spend some time thinking about that and giving yourself permission to be sad about that.  However, in addition to grief and sadness, I hope we all find time this Christmas season to reflect on the joy of the season, too.  Reflect on a memory from your past that makes you happy.  Reflect on something joyful that has happened in this past year.  Reflect on the ways that God is empowering you to be a blessing on those around you even now.  And, of course, reflect on the gift of Christ Himself, the One who gives His life to redeem us from sin and death.  No pandemic can ever take away that gift.

Since the next two Thursdays fall on holidays, this will be my last blog post of 2020.  I pray that in your own way, you would have a Merry Christmas and a blessed new year.  May God fill our darkness with the One True Light!

Advent Evening Prayer on Facebook
Join us this Sunday, December 20 on our Facebook page at 5pm for a final installment of Advent Evening Prayer.  This 6-minute video reflects on loss, grief, and hope.  Whether you are grieving the loss of a loved one – recent or many years ago – or the loss of something this pandemic has taken from you, join us for these brief video moments, which will include candles, psalms, and prayers of lament.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/immanuelwadena

 

Connect with us this Christmas

Even though we’re not gathering in the sanctuary, you can still connect with us this Christmas. We will be releasing a very special Christmas Eve video, including several “Virtual Choir” songs.  You can watch and worship any time after 4pm on December 24.  Be on the lookout for videos on our Facebook page on how to prepare your home to be sacred space.  We will also offer a Christmas Sunday live stream on December 27 and January 3 on our Facebook page.  And our December 27 radio broadcast will feature music from our Christmas Eve service in 2019.  However you connect, we hope you find a way to celebrate Christ’s birth in special ways this Christmas season.

 

Check out our news page to learn more and for other important announcements: https://www.wadenaimmanuel.org/announcements

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Treasure Greater Than Heaven and Earth!

Last week, we started this journey through the catechisms’ (Large and Small) thoughts on baptism.   And we remembered that baptism might seem like a human act – but is really God’s action. Today, we forge ahead with more.   After hearing such wonderful news about God’s action in baptism, about the benefits we receive, including forgiveness and the promise of everlasting life, our next thought might be that of skepticism.   So the Small Catechism leads us to ask, “How can water do such great things?”   The answer: “It is not the water that does these things, but God’s Word with the water and our trust in this Word.   Water by itself is only water, but with the Word of God it is a life-giving water which by grace gives the new birth through the Holy Spirit.” In the Large Catechism, Luther says even more on this topic: “Yes, my friend! Who does not know that water is water, … But how dare you tamper thus with God’s ordinance and rip out his most precious jewel?...
Read more

Forgive ... Forgiven

Today, we finish our brief series on forgiveness from the Large Catechism.   And our focus today is the practical application of forgiveness. There are two important parts of forgiveness.   One is the forgiveness we receive from God.   The other is the forgiveness we receive from our neighbors.   And both are essential to our faith and life in the community.   When people come to me with a guilty conscience, I ask them if they would like a word of absolution.   Sometimes, though, I can see that before they are forgiven by God, they need to seek forgiveness from their spouse, child, parent, neighbor, or friend.   Other times, they have been forgiven by the person they’ve wronged, but they cannot forgive themselves.   Other times, still, they have offered the sincerest apology they can and have not been forgiven.   And a strong word of forgiveness from God is needed – and we pray that the one they have wronged will forgive them in time. S...
Read more

Who is Worthy to Receive Communion?!!

Today is our third week on the Lord’s Supper/Communion.   So far, we have discovered that this is God’s meal, not the result of human actions or work.   Also, we discussed last week the importance of our faith that the bread and wine actually become Christ’s body and blood. Today, we focus on the question of who is worthy to receive the gifts of communion.   This is a topic of special interest to Luther.   He is especially interested in the idea that one could be too sinful to receive this gift.   For Luther, it is easy to look at your sins and shortcomings and decide you are not worthy to receive such a gift.   God’s goodness contrasts so sharply with our sinfulness, “then because of this, such people will not go to the sacrament and wait until they are prepared, until one week passes into another and one half-year into yet another.   If you choose to fix your eye on how good and pure you are, to wait until nothing torments you, you will never go” (...
Read more