My clearest memories of church growing up are Christmas Eve services. I didn’t know a lot of hymns, but I knew the carols. I didn’t have a regular practice of generosity, but I knew enough to give what I could to the food and toy drive. I didn’t know much scripture, but I recognized these lines from the Magnificat.
“[God] has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. [God] has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich empty away.” – Luke 1:52-53 (NIV)
To me, they summed up the Christian message. God had chosen the lowly and rejected the haughty. God had favored the hungry and rebuked the well-to-do. It made me wonder where I fit in with God’s new order of things. Was I among the rich? Was I among the haughty? How could I be part of what God was doing, rather than stand against it? It troubled me, turned me over in the way that soil is turned over in preparation for planting seeds.
I left church with the resolve to somehow, someway live that out that radical overturning year-round. And, perhaps, I managed it for a while. Then I turned up for Christmas again the next year and was troubled anew, turned over anew. I didn’t become active in church until adulthood, but the seed of my faith was planted in Christmas Eve services.
I know it can be a lot to put on a big, boisterous Christmas service. And it can seem like not a lot of “bang for your buck” for the folks who only come once a year. But, then again, planting is always an awful lot of work, isn’t it?
Prayer ~ God, may your spirit grow in those we barely know
Click here to get today’s guide for discussing C and Es by John Edgerton along with today’s scripture.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rev. John Edgerton is Senior Minister and CEO of Old South Church in Boston. He is the 21st Senior minister in the congregation’s over 350-year history.