Friday, December 18

It is almost time to welcome the Christ Child. There is good news about effective vaccines in regard to COVID-19. Additional familiar faces are returning to church for worship after being away. Even though we must continue to wear masks and practice social distancing, it seems as if better days might be coming.

This General Thanksgiving will be our final thanksgiving for now. It has been wonderful to hear from so many of you during this time. We began this project in August, publishing three thanksgivings a week. That was during our second lockdown when hope was dim. As the pandemic restrictions eased up, we had one thanksgiving each week. Throughout all of these thanksgivings, it has been good to see how relationships within the congregation have become stronger as several of you shared your stories of hope and resurrection.

As I write this, the Christmas tree at the rectory has been put up, however there are no decorations or lights yet. Hopefully by Christmas Eve we will finish. Thankfully we have twelve celebratory days of Christmas beginning on December 25.

While I am not grateful for this pandemic, and I lament the record amount of deaths that have resulted in our country and throughout the world, I am grateful for a few side effects of this pandemic. Christmas seems less commercial this year. I miss the holiday parties of Advent and Christmas, especially our wonderful services of Lessons and Carols with their festive receptions, but I am also enjoying the increased reflection of Advent that is abundant this year, and I look forward to the quiet amazement of Christmas that is to come - something truly pointing us to that first Christmas in Bethlehem. Christ still comes in the middle of a pandemic, and the beauty and majesty of Bethlehem remains the same. In some ways we can see Bethlehem with increased clarity this year. The pandemic has sharpened our sight to see that a true Christmas keeps Christ at the center.

This Sunday the nativity set will be displayed in the church, but only Mary and the Angel Gabriel will be present. I invite you to say a prayer on your own in the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel. At mass we will hear the story of the Annunciation - of Gabriel sharing with Mary the good news that she will be with child, and that she must name him Jesus. On the Fourth Sunday of Advent we always witness the first sunbeams of Christmas.

As you finish up your preparations for the feast, or perhaps as you just get started, my wish for you is to have a renewed sense of Christmas this year. Our reality is that Advent began this past March. We have been waiting for a miracle all year long. Science has given us some miracles for which to be thankful. It is amazing how quickly vaccines have been produced. And yet, God will always bring about greater miracles. It is going to happen again this December 25. God will come as the Word-Made-Flesh to save us, and this will be the miracle to which all other miracles point. As ever, we have so much for which to give thanks.

Father Paul Lillie +