Deck the Halls

Did you have an opportunity to enjoy the Christmas Cantata last week? Wow! What a treat! Whether you were present in the sanctuary or enjoyed the cantata on our YouTube channel, I hope it was as meaningful for you as it was for me. The Christmas Cantata has always been a special experience for me, but after a year without one due to the pandemic, this felt particularly special. It felt like a shift, a naming of difference, a movement towards joy in the midst of such a dreary time. I find myself now a little more in the holiday spirit.

Sometimes in life, it takes something to shake us out of whatever funk or haze we find ourselves in. Whether we're feeling off or if we're just so stuck in a perpetual pattern, we might find ourselves unable to imagine anything else without a little wake-up call. For me, the Cantata felt like a great invitation into embracing the Advent season. It shook me out of what feels like a never-ending pandemic daze and invited me to enjoy this sacred season.

These invitations to pay attention, to enter into a new time, space, or way of being, aren't always as lovely and delightful as a cantata. In this week's Scripture reading from Luke 3:7-18, John the Baptist appears with a message, harsh in tone to the people around. What is it that he is calling them into? What is coming and how are they to prepare? What invitations are calling to us to live anew in this day and age and see the presence of God in our midst?