2022 Worship Guide

2022 Worship Guide LINCOLN DAILY NEWS December 1, 2022 Page 7 By Rev. Laurie Hill St. John United Church of God Christmastime is a time for nostalgia. This is a blessing and a curse. It’s a huge blessing because we remember fondly all the good memories which surround Christmas and hope to repeat those rituals, traditions, stories, and add even more joy every year. Our expectations build. Our hope overflows. Our memories sometimes motivate us toward kindness and compassion. Sometimes, if we have painful holiday memories, we still are nostalgic. We long for what could have been and perhaps we strive to correct our past by making better memories in the future. If grief floods us during the holidays, we hold onto our memories even more tightly. If strife and conflict haunt us, we strive to create a joyful or at least quiet way of celebrating holidays. Jesus was born in Bethlehem to Mary and Joseph who had to travel there to be counted in a census. I remember what it was like in my ninth month of my pregnancies, one of the most difficult months. Walking or riding on a donkey or horse would’ve been horrendous. Delivering a baby in the proverbial stable would also be unbelievably frightening for a young girl. Because I know what faith and love can do, I’m hoping there was a midwife and faithful, loving people around them. I try to fill in the “rest of the story” in my mind to make it not- so-terrifying in my mind. Each year, we bring out our nativity sets, with a loving Mary and Joseph overlooking baby Jesus, with such care and love. That is part of our nostalgic story of Christmas when we think about the “reason for the season”. The trees, gifts, decorations, parties, concerts, all are festivals of joy celebrating the birth of a baby who eventually revolutionized the world. Amongst our blessings and curses this Christmas; the joy and the grief, the strife and the comfort, the cookies, and the broken ornaments, I invite you to remember the night our Jesus was born. It was not an easy or pretty night. It was a difficult and scary time. Yet, this scary cursed event became the light and love for the whole entire world! That way, no matter the hard, difficult, scary, or broken expectations we may feel at Christmas, the light of Christ can be reborn into our hearts again and again and again. Find the light! Find the love! Find the joy! Find the peace! Even if it’s just a moment or a memory, hold on to it! For it is there that the newborn Christ lives within your own heart! Peace be with you! This Christmas, find the light, the love, the joy, the peace