This year, Christmas is on a Sunday, so we have a Christmas Day Service. Since 1990, when I was ordained, that has only happened five times!! One would think it happens every seven years, but that is not the case. There is a mathematical formula to figure it out based on various leap years, etc. So, after one Christmas Sunday, the next one comes in 11 years, then 6 years, then 5 years, then 6 again, and so on! My first Christmas Sunday as a minister was in 1994, then 2005, 2011, 2016, this year-2022, and the next one will be in 2033! So, in all this time, 1994 was the first Christmas Sunday that I had to wake my sons and drag them out of bed to go to church with me on Christmas Day (the plight of a single parent in ministry)! I made it up to them later!
This year, I am excited to have Christmas on a Sunday! The lesson is “Christmas Stories,” and Amy & Adams will be with us on Zoom. Wear your jammies or your favorite Christmas sweater and have your hot chocolate ready for this rare Christmas Sunday as we celebrate the birth of the Divine in each one of us. You will hear about the origin of one of our popular Christmas songs and begin your morning singing Christmas carols.
Our Advent candles have all been lit now, and we have invoked the powers of hope and faith, peace, love, and joy, in preparation for the birth of greater Christ Consciousness. It does not mean we light candles over several weeks and expect to become enlightened beings. But it is certainly symbolic of the spiritual journey that we all take to our greater awakening. The stages of Jesus’ life help us to understand some of the stepping-stones on our own path. And his wondrous birth reminds us of our own initial awakening to something greater than the mundane life. It signifies a deeper heart opening and connection with all.
We come to realize that the Christmas Story is our story, not just something that took place centuries ago. We are always giving birth and being born into greater life and love on our journey. The story of the man Jesus inspires us, and the consciousness that he attained, the Christ, lets us know that “we can do what he did and even greater things.” Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, once said his favorite affirmation from Scripture was, “Christ in you, your hope of glory!”
Merry Christmas!
Blessings of peace,
Rev. Kathy