As the song says, “It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…”  However, for many of us it’s not beginning to feel a lot like Christmas – at least not in the ways we’re used to.  I miss many of the traditions and social gatherings.  Most of all, I miss not being together with all of you at our beloved Neighborhood Church.

A special opportunity is coming to share a little Christmas cheer with your church family.  On Christmas Eve from 4 – 5 p.m.  Michael Moorhead and I will be hosting a Zoom Christmas Open House when you can stop by for a few minutes and greet others in the congregation and wish them a Merry Christmas.  It won’t be the same as doing it in person, but it’s the next best thing –  and I know your presence and greetings will bring joy to the others who gather.  To see your church friends on Christmas Eve simply click on this link.  Michael and I look forward to greeting you – so if it fits your schedule, we really hope you’ll stop by to say “Hi!”

Because this Holy Season is so different, perhaps part of its message can sink in differently for us in terms of the deeper meaning and importance it can have in our spiritual lives.  The theologian Jorg Zink offers these challenging and hopeful words which seem very appropriate after all the months of the current pandemic, political strife and world-wide difficulty, violence and mistrust.

“There’s nothing romantic about the Christmas story. If anything, it offers a slice of a brutal world in which a child is born on the street, so to speak, with next to nothing in the way of rights and security, and not even a home. He whose birthday we celebrate at Christmas said, even as a grown man, “I have nothing. I am nowhere at home. Even at night, I have no place to rest or lay my head”.…But now this man from Nazareth comes to us and invites us to mirror God’s image, and shows us how. He says: you too can become light, as God is light. Because what is all around you is not hell, but rather a world waiting to be filled with hope and faith.“

A physical way to remind us of being a spiritual light to the world is found in these words by Howard Thurman in a piece called, “I Will Light Candles this Christmas.”

                                                I will light Candles this Christmas; 

                                                Candles of joy despite all sadness, 

                                                Candles of hope where despair keeps watch, 

                                                Candles of courage for fears ever present, 

                                                Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days, 

                                                Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens, 

                                                Candles of love to inspire all my living, 

                                                Candles that will burn all the year long

May the light of Christ accompany you throughout your life’s journey and may you also be a light of faith and hope to those around you!  May you know joy this Christmas!

And again, we hope to see you at our Christmas Open House on Christmas Eve when we can share a little of that light with one another!

Rev. Dr. David D. Young
Senior Minister