December 2019 Messenger

Author: Rev. Scott Cousineau
December 01, 2019

I started seeing the Christmas trees going up at the big box hardware stores in August … AUGUST! Soon after, the displays of other Christmas decorations went up. I had to walk through a Christmas wonderland to purchase by birdseed and yard tools. I think that it was approximately one minute after midnight on Halloween (or technically November 1) when I heard the first Christmas song, and the holiday shopping ads began airing the following day.

Do not get me wrong … I love Christmas, but what is the rush?!?! What about Veteran’s Day? What about Thanksgiving? Can we not celebrate those important and special days first?

But it has occurred to me that we should rush toward Christmas. Everyone is kinder and more friendly in the days leading up to Christmas. Everyone is more generous during the Christmas season. I suppose that there is no harm in ushering in that spirit as early as possible.

I have a friend and colleague that served a church in Massachusetts that referred to itself as “The Christmas Church.” That church family celebrated Christmas year-round!

In the Christian faith, we call ourselves “Easter People.” We celebrate the promise of salvation and new life in the empty tomb and the Risen Christ. Our old lives die in the waters of baptism and we rise to walk in newness of life!

Could we possibly consider ourselves to be Christmas People as well? Every day we celebrate God’s desire to break through the humdrum and mundane of the world in spectacular fashion. Every day we celebrate God’s Love Incarnate coming to earth that we might know and feel that perfect love. Every day we hear angel songs proclaiming the Good News that our Savior has been born. Every day we follow a divine light and kneel before the Son of God.

We joke about “C & E” Christians … those who attend worship on Christmas and Easter. But we should all be Christmas and Easter Christians!

We experience the JOY of Christ’s birth and his resurrection!

Our darkest days are broken by the HOPE of the promise of a new day in the manger and in the empty tomb!

PEACE covers the earth and fills our hearts knowing that God cares for us and provides for us every day of our lives.

And our desire to LOVE one another begins when we understand how deeply and intimately God loves us first.

Let us live, love and serve like every day is Christmas Day! May our ‘Hallelujahs’ open our hands and our hearts to God and to our neighbors.

Rejoice! Jesus Christ is born

BACK