As a community of faith, we have gathered in worship together for the very first time. On Christmas Eve, in the dark of night, we gathered with strangers and friends to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ-the Light of the world. A wonderful surprise was a young family with an eight week old baby girl who played the Christ child in our impromptu drama.
Sometimes I think that we script our worship services so much that we don’t leave room for the Holy Spirit to move. In this service, I felt the spirit on several occasions. The first time was in the number of people who gathered to offer themselves to God that night. The second time was when I reached for the loaf of bread and was filled with the moment and the reality of how it represented the body of Christ. Reese, who was playing the drums, recognized the need for people to kneel for prayer and folded the blankets that we blessed for the homeless. And as we sang Silent Night holding our candles to end the celebration, I was filled with the beauty of the moment and all that it meant for us as a community.
That night, I could not go to sleep because I was so full of joy and amazement at the significance of this first worship service and all it represented in the light of God breaking into the darkness of a hurting world. To celebrate the birth of a church and to celebrate the birth of Jesus together was so moving and beautiful, I was overflowing with the beauty of it all. To make sandwiches and gather blankets for our neighbors in need in the midst of the most consumer driven season of our lives was a humbling reminder of all we have. I will have to say that this was my best Christmas ever.
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