“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.”
You may have heard some version of this when watching any version of A Christmas Carol. This quote is spoken by Ebenezer Scrooge to the ghost of Christmas future, who shows him some quite unsavory realities that may come to pass if he does not change.
God the Father creates and sustains you. Jesus Christ saves you through his death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit binds you together in love and gives you peace. The Spirit of God helps you in your weaknesses, intercedes for you, and knows you. The rushing wind of God, the Holy Spirit, breathes onto you and gives you the gift of life in Christ. The first Sunday of this month is Pentecost Sunday.
God has formed and changed me through the ministry of Ewalu Bible Camp. The first time I attended Ewalu Bible Camp, I was nine years old. I remember that as soon as my parents left me in this strange wilderness with a bunch of strangers to take care of me, I felt alone, afraid, and ready to go home. However, God is present in every place of need. God was present with me in my first week at Ewalu.
Lent is a forty-day journey where we prayerfully prepare for Jesus’ death and resurrection. We do many things as a community to take part in the prayerfulness of this season. This year we gather on Wednesday evenings to share a meal provided by our youth. After our time of fellowship, we will hold a time of song and prayer, using the Holden Evening Prayer. This is a worship service from a Christian retreat center in the mountains of Washington state.
“Wait for the Lord, whose day is near. Wait for the Lord: be strong, take heart!” (ELW, 262)
This December, we celebrate the season of Advent. From now until Christmas, we wait for our Lord, Jesus Christ, to come to us. We wait for our God to come incarnate as baby Jesus in Bethlehem. We wait for Jesus to come to our hearts and minds daily. We wait for Jesus to come again to judge the living and the dead in all of his glory.