Going Forward!
I hope you were blessed by passionate worship wherever you were this year for Christmas. This was my first year worshiping on Christmas Eve at Schweitzer in many years. Roxanne, the boys and I have been in St. Louis in recent years worshipping with family in that area. Here are a few of my observations as we welcomed others to SUMC this year:
What an awesome worship celebration for children (and parents, and grandparents!) at 4 p.m. What a blessing to have the sanctuary full of children participating in worship – reading scripture, listening to stories, singing and much more. The place was hoppin!
New faces and old (aka familiar) faces filled the sanctuary at 6, 8 & 11 p.m. What a diverse group of people who had assembled this night. It was fun, humbling and inspiring to see so many faces glowing in the light of candles held high honoring our Lord. Hope is renewed in the light of the Prince of Peace.
The first candle lit was from the Church of the Nativity in - Bethlehem. It was a gift from a Palestinian Christian who had recently visit Schweitzer. It’s a small world growing smaller.
I’m reminded God continues to work in all people--young and old, seekers and saints, folks near and far. Let’s remain open to the gift of the Holy Spirit and continue to grow in God’s grace and wisdom as we move forward into a new year. We are truly blessed here at Schweitzer and it is exciting to see what God has in store for us. Let us continue to be a blessing to others!
--Jim Mason