This is the fourth year I’ve spun words around not just Christmas as the world knows it . The Thursday before four Sundays named Advent in the liturgical year, I’ve tried to define how December opens again for me a familiar foundation for the rest of the year to build on. Some years I’ve written about decorations and what they mean or don’t mean to me, about those words that are used in various order of hope, peace, joy, love. I’ve remembered music that has colored special times. I’ve regretted that even with the softness of candles filling dark corners light is not the focus of one Sunday.
The words for this year have no choice but to be personal. I had to put the whole month of December on hold after eye surgery. Thankfully, the procedure went well. I did not have the dailiness of readings because the term blur was more than descriptive. That and appearance hindered going to choir or church. I’m not driving and have had to accept with humility what help was offered in love. For the first two weeks, bending at the waist was not allowed and all decorations are stored in the bottom of chest. Just now, though, are some of the demanding restrictions being lifted and I am lately entering celebration. Along the way, moments counted.
How did the moments come? Hooray for living in a technical age! Each Sunday I have been almost more a part of a service than when seated behind a tall youth and craning my neck to see around the broad shoulders. Church families with children I teach light a candle for each week and carry that light into the world at the service’s end, and little faces and voices seemed close and clear. Video cameras panned the choir. The music surrounded me and I could also see faces of fellow choir members filled with the the blessing of that message. My private drivers took me to hear a high school choir at the Fine Arts Museum and to marvel over a collection of creches in a nearby church. Best of all, I can re-enter the group that was virtual and will be able to be a part of Christmas Eve with music and that special story and finally the lighting of the Christ Candle. Mystery means influencing the course of events by using supernatural forces. When the whole congregation, each holding a candle, spills out on the church steps to sing Silent Night, the mystery of the moment becomes foundational reality, and I join Mary after journeys, angels, and shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.
Luke 2:19
Let Me Tell Ya 