Poet, Leslie Leyland Fields, once wrote:
“Let the stable still astonish: Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes, dusty flanks of donkeys; oxen;
(“Let the Stable Still Astonish” found in Patches of Godlight, Karon, J. Penguin Books, 2001)
Crumbling, crooked walls; no bed to carry that pain,
And then the child, rag-wrapped, laid to cry in a trough.
Who would’ve chosen this? Who would’ve said,
‘Yes, let the God of all the heavens and earth be born here, in this place?’
Who but the same God who stands in the darker fouler rooms of our hearts
And says, ‘Yes, let the God of Heaven and Earth be born here—in this place.”
Every year we sing the old carols in decorated sanctuaries, cozied by candlelight. We receive the birth narratives of Jesus and we muse the long journey to a Bethlehem that almost feels dreamlike. While I’m certainly not being critical of our customs, our encounter with the “Christ” of Christmas can be correspondent to visiting a museum exhibit, where we stop and study safely from a distance, snapping mental pictures, making sure we don’t step beyond the red velvet rope and risk disturbing a relic from “once when.”
But what about right now? Rarely do we consider the audacity of Christmas because we’ve done so well to cast it in ceramics, bind it in bubble wrap and place it in cardboard coffins that read, “December Décor.” But every time we unpack the hymns and sing phrases like, “Let every heart prepare Him room,” or “O come, O come Emmanuel,” we’re asking the King of Creation, the Lord of Eternity to do it again—to take up residence with us, to make His home in our messy hearts once more. In this sense, “O come, O come Emmanuel” isn’t a recollection; it’s a request that I can’t believe we have guts enough to ask. What’s more is that I can’t believe our God is good enough to agree.
It’s in this sense that the stable should astonish us—that our Lord would risk much to reach us—and that we, in turn, would breach the red velvet ropes and risk much to serve as the exhibits of Emmanuel. Through your generosity, displayed below are just some of the ways that we, the people of Christ UMC “Rejoice, rejoice,” how “Emmanuel has come to thee.”
We invite you to consider celebrating the birthday of Jesus with the gift of an extra offering in support of our mission to prepare Him room and to be exhibits of Emmanuel, God with us. Should you choose, you can scan the QR code below, which will direct you to our in-house giving platform. If you would like to mail in your offering, and did not receive an offering envelope, please call the church office at 304-242-2455. As we close out 2024, I want to humbly thank you for your steadfastness and support. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to prayerfully submit a commitment card for 2025. The Lord is always found to be faithful. May the same be said of us!
Christmas Eve will feature two distinct services at 4 pm and 7 pm. If you’re looking for something on the traditional side with liturgy, recitation, preaching that punctuates the gift of God with us, and carols sung in candlelight, then join us at 4 pm in the Chapel. Or come to the 7 pm service in the main sanctuary. You can watch the live stream of the 7 pm service here. At 7pm, you’ll sing traditional carols in candlelight and you’ll not only hear the ringing of the bell choir and the melodies of the chancel choir, you’ll receive the hope of Christ through a theatrical message that’ll connect with the entire family. Come and see! Let every heart, prepare him room!
