My sermon title for Sunday is “More than a Wish.” The text is from the Gospel of Mathew 1: 18-25. When you read it you will recognize that this particular text is usually read on Christmas Sunday, or maybe the last Sunday in Advent. It is not usually read on the first Sunday in Advent. Maybe it is time to change some of our traditions? Maybe this year we need to live with the Christmas story and let the Christmas story live with us and abide in us for more than a day or two. If you are feeling like me, you need to let the story sink in deeper than one day. If nothing else, at the very least, the Christmas story tells me that this is not a time to be blasé. It is time to keep a vigil over the things that really matter in our lives.
We will celebrate the hanging of the greens on Sunday. That’s tradition. We will sing some familiar carols: When God is a Child, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and a few others. I love Christmas carols. And we will think and talk about what is holy and sacred in our lives.
In friendship,
David