Thursday and Friday night, we spent time at Belleview UMC for their annual
Christmas Drive Thru.
Parker was happy to be off in the shepherd's field again with his friends.
And Wesley played young Jesus in the last scene with the wise men.
Debbie was Mary with him both nights and Daryl joined us Friday night as a wise man.
It's a wonderful tradition to mark the season.
There's something about sitting out there in the scene as part of the living Nativity,
with all of the great Christmas praise and worship music playing out over the church yard
that is very soothing and peaceful.
That was something we especially needed on Friday evening,
given the events we had watched unfold on TV
surrounding the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
We hugged our boys tight, knowing there were so many mommies and daddies
who didn't get another chance to do that.
And we thought of our other little boy, halfway around the world.
in a different province from where Davis lives.
Advent and Christmas is a time when we celebrate the light of life entering into a world of darkness.
These tragedies have shown us the darkness at its worst.
We pray for all the families who grieve the loss of loved ones,
for emergency personnel who bore witness to the devastation,
for children who have been robbed of their innocence too soon,
and for teachers and staff who will never walk into their school the same way again.
And we pray that everyone who has committed their lives to follow God
would reflect the light of Christ brightly out into the darkness....
May we meet hate with love, violence with peace and anger with grace
For that is the way of Jesus, the baby born in Bethlehem.
No comments:
Post a Comment