Grace and Peace Beloved St. Lukers and Friends,
With Advent now in full swing, our worship spaces are beautifully and festively adorned with Advent décor and Chrismons! (“Does Pastor Jad’s spellcheck not work?”) Yes, you read that right: Chrismons. Our Christmas trees are decorated with Chrismons and we call those Christmas trees, Chrismon trees. “Chris,” meaning Christ, and “mon,” meaning monograms. These are Christ monograms, symbols of Jesus Christ. If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you take some time on Sunday and examine the Chrismon trees in our worship spaces to see not only their beauty, but what they represent.
You know, you and I, we can be Chrismons, too. We have the opportunity each and every day, not only during Advent/Christmas, to find ways to beautifully represent Christ to the world. I witnessed this powerfully over the last seven days. One was at the Sleep in Heavenly Peace bed build. 100+ of you came out to make 47 (our goal was 40) bunk beds. Those are safe, warm, comfortable sleeping spaces for 94 children. Chrismons. I have also witnessed Christ beautifully represented as our Community Choir, Dance Ensemble, Children’s Choir, Tech Team, and Orchestra have gathered together for the final rehearsals for this week’s Christmas Concerts. It’s powerful to see all of these different people from different backgrounds and histories, with different experiences of life and faith come together to make the story of God born into our lives in such a beautiful way. Chrismons. We are so excited for this weekend of completely sold-out shows and look forward to sharing this story with hundreds of St. Lukers and members of our community alike.
As Advent continues on there are more opportunities for you and I to be Chrismons, to represent, in beautiful ways, Jesus Christ. And I want to highlight three:
First is through our Advent Offering – these gifts go directly toward helping children and are a powerful way to honor the Christ child born at Christmas.
Another way is to volunteer at one or more of our Christmas candlelight services – hundreds of our neighbors will descend upon our campus to light candles and hear the beautiful story of God coming into our lives, and we need you to be a part of their welcome and hospitality. We hope you’ll sign up so you and your family can be a living Chrismon.
The last way you can be a living Chrismon this Advent/Christmas season is by providing a hot and delicious meal for our Family Promise families – through Family Promise, families who are experiencing homelessness have a safe place to call home while they find stability, and providing a hot, home-cooked meal is an important part of how we at St. Luke’s are part of this dignified healing work.
There you have it, three tangible ways for you and your family to show and share the beautiful grace and love of Jesus Christ this Advent!
I hope you will join us this Sunday as we surround ourselves with the sights and sounds of the second Sunday of Advent. Rumor has it that George Frideric Handel, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Octavia Lenora Spencer are all making an appearance…you’ll just have to join us to find out how.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jad