Christmas 2024
     December is the most difficult time of the year for those of us who have a child who is physically no longer with us. For me Christmas will be flooded    with memories of my beloved son. Jordan loved Christmas. He would turn on Christmas music for all to listen to as we put up the Christmas tree and set out the numerous nativity scenes along with Santas and everything that would make our home ready for the big day.
     Now my family will try to celebrate this most wonderful time of the year without him. He will be with us in our hearts and memories, but we will not get to hear his laughter or see his face light up like a little boy on Christmas morning.
     The Christmas tree that Jordan would put up on the back porch of the Parsonage will not be there this holiday season. I will set it up inside the Parsonage to remind me of the joy Jordan brought to our lives. I will also set up my mother’s nativity set. Maybe my mom, who died on Christmas Day 2020, will whisper to me in my sleep, “It’s okay Kenny, Jordan is with us in Heaven in the presence of the One whose birth we celebrate.” Such a whisper would bring so much light into the darkness of my grief.
     Jesus, our Savior, was born into a world filled with sin and darkness. He came not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through faith in Him. His mission was fulfilled through His death and resurrection. It all began, though, on that most holy night when God gave the world His most precious gift, the indescribable gift, of His son Jesus of Nazareth whose birth we celebrate on Christmas.
     Everyone has lost a loved one who used to celebrate the joy of the season with them. There is that empty place beside us around the Christmas tree, or next to us in the church pew, or across from us at the table. The empty place reminds us that Christmas is the time of the year to cherish our memories and for us to hold on to our faith in Jesus.
     Our faith in His saving grace is all we have to take with us when it becomes our time to enter heaven. With that in mind celebrate our Savior’s birth this year with your loved ones as if it were your last time to do so on earth. Listen for the sleigh bells to ring, watch for the lights to appear, join the carolers singing, eat some cookies, drink a little egg nog, go to the church’s Christmas services and be of good cheer for Jesus Christ is born today! Our loved ones in heaven are celebrating this good news and so should we here on earth.
     The gift of salvation and the promise of eternal life, wrapped up in the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem, are given to you this Christmas. Receive the gift and He will bring light into your darkness, peace into your anguish, hope into your despair, joy into your sorrow and love into the emptiness of your heart.

                 May Jesus be born in you, anew, this Christmas.

                                                                      Pastor Ken