Welcome to 2019! I hope you had a happy Christmas season and that you got to spend it with loved ones. God blessed me with a beautiful Christmas. My favorite part of Christmas this year was the fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve services at my church.
I felt the sacred permeate every moment of these church services. Much of this had to do with music. My dear friend, Karie, and her family came home for Christmas, which made the Sunday service even more beautiful than usual. She and her precious daughters sang “Jesus Born on This Day.” I had to fight hard to keep tears from spilling down my cheeks as they sang.
My kids and I had the song in our heads the rest of the day. We recognized the tune, but didn’t know who recorded it. Imagine my shock when I looked it up on Amazon Music and discovered it’s a Mariah Carey song. It’s off her 1994 album, “Merry Christmas.”
All I ever hear from her at Christmas is “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which is so overplayed it just about unhinges me. But “Jesus Born on This Day” gave me goosebumps, a sure sign of a powerful song. I highly recommend looking it up on YouTube or Amazon Music.
Muted light and vibrant color added even more beauty to the service. Advent candles, altar candles, Christmas tree lights, and the splendor of dozens of poinsettias colored the sanctuary. And the poignant presence of the Holy Spirit permeated every moment. I always sense His presence in church, but it seems more powerful at Christmas and Easter. Perhaps this is because more believers come to church during these seasons than on other Sundays.
Christmas Eve service was a little more casual. The choir sang a song from the cantata we’d performed on December 16 titled, “On A Silent Night.”
We sang Christmas hymns and listened to church members read Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 2:1-20, and Matthew 2:1-12. These are the prophesy of Jesus’ birth, the story of His birth and announcement to the shepherds, and the story of the magi, respectively. We lit the four advent candles and the Christ candle. Everyone wore red, it seemed. It was beautiful.
If you’re longing for fellowship now that Christmas is past, come to Kennard United Methodist Church on Saturday, January 12. They’re hosting a community breakfast in the church’s fellowship hall 8 to 9:30 a.m. They’re taking a free will offering for the meal.
These are usually delicious, hearty breakfasts. The church is located at 318 Groover Road, Greenville. It’s not in Greenville -- it’s in the country. I don’t understand why Greenville addresses stretch way into the Atlantic community. Ah, the mysteries of the United States Postal Service.
Human Trafficking Awareness Day is this Friday. Whew. If there’s anything I’d rather not think about, it’s human trafficking. It wasn’t until Sara Groves talked about this at a concert I attended in 2007 that I even heard of this foul industry. She shared the story of a young girl named Elizabeth who wrote Psalm 27:1-3 on her wall as encouragement that God would liberate her from sex slavery. She prayed every night that God would free her.
An International Justice Mission operative found and released her after eight months of slavery. You can read more about Elizabeth on crosswalk.com. Just type “Sara Groves human trafficking” into a search engine, and it’ll come up. It’s a powerful story.
Please join me in praying that God will purge our world of human trafficking. He hears our prayers. Have a wonderful week. I wish you all God’s blessings in 2019.