The Fifth Day of Christmas
From our December 17 Christmas Service!
The funny thing about light is that it only takes a little to make a dark room a whole lot brighter. On December 17, we shared in a Christmas Worship Service at Community, setting aside the calendar, and sang silent night by candle light. My Dad was in the A/V booth and turned off the lights, Mars (our worship leader) led us in the classic Christmas Eve hymn, and we lifted the candles up into the dark. 52 lights in all (with glow sticks for the little ones) as a way for us to celebrate that the True Light from True Light, the True God from True God, came into the world over 2,000 years ago - to save us by showing us how much God loves us.
As we journey through this Christmas season, today is day five, how can people tell that we’re walking in his light? That we want to work alongside God to bring people out of the dark and into the loving presence of God - who is already with them in their difficult moments, memories, and mourning?
“Dear friends, I’m not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the message you heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines. The one who claims to be in the light while hating a brother or sister is in the darkness even now. The person loving a brother and sister stays in the light, and there is nothing in the light that causes a person to stumble. But the person who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and lives in the darkness, and doesn’t know where to go because the darkness blinds the eyes.”
People should know we belong to Christ by how we love not just one another, as in other Christians, but how we love others, those who don’t know his love yet. Be a candle lifted up into the dark today, for someone who needs it. Be present, be hope, bring peace.
In Christ,
Pastor Jarrod