Racine/Sumner Center UMC,
Stewartville UMC Children’s Ministry Coordinator
By Pastor Bridget Sheely
Racine/Wykoff/Sumner Center UMC
I love Christmas! From when I was a child in the ‘70s to this day, Christmas has been that time of year that has awaken the fruits of Advent in my soul. Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. As a child this special feeling came in the form of learning and experiencing my family’s Christmas traditions. As another season of Advent is upon us, the nostalgia of years gone by surface again. The HOPE of the coming of Christmas and those feelings of anticipation that have been a part of my dreams since I was a child continue to wash over me to this day even as the reason for hope has changed as I grew from hoping the gifts under the tree where presents I wished for to the hope of Christ coming to this earthly plain and changing the world forever. And aw! What a sense of PEACE that fills my heart to know that because of Christ we, who choose to follow him, are now wrapped in His arms and have been gifted the most precious present – salvation. What a gift to celebrate!
So, how do we remind ourselves of this great blessing? We do so with traditions, and we can experience tradition everywhere. From the comfort of our homes with the baking of those favorite goodies, to listening to those wonderful songs being sung on the radio, in church and around the family piano, to lighting up the Christmas tree and decorations that adorn our homes, yards and communities. I just love driving down the street at twilight in the month of December and seeing the soft glow of twinkling lights shining throughout the neighborhoods. It is a moment when one cannot help but feel a sense of JOY. Joy to the World plays in my mind over and over again because for a brief moment in time all feels right with the world. It brings me back in time to when I was growing up in Lansing and us neighborhood kids would go from door to door singing Christmas carols for 4-H and our youth group for church. There was an atmosphere that swirled around us of hope that people would be home at the doors we knocked on, joy bubbled up in our giddy conversations as we ventured from house to house, and peace would be our reward for a job well done. The whole season would come to a crescendo the night of our church Christmas program.
As long as I live the feelings of experiencing our churches’ traditions on the evening of the Christmas program were HOPE, PEACE and JOY would all come together and fill the walls of that little church in Lansing with so much LOVE that the whole community could see the glow of the light of Christ. Those traditions will forever give me a reason to continue each year to find purpose in traditions that help me connect with Him who is the reason for the season.
May you find purpose in your Christmas traditions as well. Merry Christmas.