So much about this Covid Christmas is different: our church is not meeting for worship so that those old familiar carols can be sung, the lights of the Christmas Eve candles will not be lit, the ways we celebrate with family or friends have been diminished, or will not happen at all. Henri Nouwen, the Catholic priest and writer, offered these thoughts many years ago, perhaps not in the midst of a world wide pandemic, but certainly moved by a sense that many find after fulfilling all of the traditions of Christmas, he wrote: “Somehow I realized that songs, music, good feelings, beautiful liturgies, nice presents, big dinners, and many sweet words do not make Christmas. Christmas is saying ‘yes’ to something beyond all emotions and feeling. Christmas is saying ‘yes’ to a hope based on God’s initiative, which has nothing to do with what I think or feel. Christmas is believing that the salvation of the world is God’s work and not mine. Things will never look just right or feel just right. If they did someone would be lying… But it is into this broken world that a child is born who is called the Son of the Most High, Prince of Peace, Savior.”
The words of one of those old familiar, comforting Christmas songs comes to mind here: “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”
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February 2021
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Starkville Presbyterian Church PC(USA) Starkville, MS | Ron's Reflections |