It is the night of nights. There is a winter storm upon us. But we gathered and worshipped our new King, lit candles and sang Silent Night. Many people showed up in spite of the weather.
I remember when we cancelled church in 2003. At 5:15am we stood out back the movie theater in the freezing rain and ‘called it.’ I watched the television and saw our church name among the church cancellations. I thought up a some small church who might not have needed to cancel. Why? Because they had a church building! In that small church that morning, someone showed up and made coffee, shoveled the doorway and turned on the lights. Maybe a handful of people showed up and they had church – no audio/visual, no big production. Just small souls in a small service, gathered around the one cup. Fellowship came afterwards. There was no place to go. The few scraped together a meal of sorts, dry and Bisquick driven. More coffee. They had little church because they had a big gift: a church building. I will always be grateful for our church building. This night my heart goes out to those churches who do not have a church building of their own.
Tonight I think of the young mother, Mary and her little baby, and Joseph who had to handle all the mess and hassles. This little family had church as well, gathered around the One Cup, the Son. A few shepherds showed up. They had church by candlelight.
