On Christmas Eve, Rev. AndreaGrace led a join service for a Presbyterian and Catholic community. In her Christmas message, she reflected on her Grandma Anna, Jayson Tatum of the Celtics and the gift of Christmas.
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When I was a little girl, I lived across the street from my Grandma Anna. Here’s a picture of us on my first Christmas! Grandma was a home-body. Throughout my young life, I spent so much time with her. We would watch Lawrence Welk on Saturday nights and have big family dinners on Sunday nights. When I was home sick and my mom was working, Grandma would take care of me. She taught me to crochet and play solitaire. We would listen to the Red Sox and the Celtics games. She was a HUGE fan! Like the sun, she was always there for me. She went to heaven when I was 10.5 years of age. I missed Grandma…. terribly. In time, I would realize that one of the greatest gifts Grandma gave me was the gift of her presence. In her presence, I belonged and I knew who I was – whose I was - in this big world.
The Celtics
Being a Celtics fan was one of Grandma’s legacies. Now, generations gather to watch the games with
my mom, who is known as Nonna. How many Celtics fans do we have here? Raise your hands! If you are a Celtics fan, you know about one of the players, Jayson Tatum, his mom, Brandy Cole, and his son, Deuce. And if you are a Celtics fan, you probably saw the clip of Jayson and Deuce after the Celtics clinched the championship last spring. Let’s take a look [You can fast forward to 1:50 and end at 2:14].
In the video, Jayson was saying to Deuce – we did it! We did it!
Celebrating Jesus' Birth
We are gathered here tonight – as two faith-filled communities celebrating our Savior’s birth! We are here with circles of love – extending and expanding and melding into a larger circle of God’s love…. Hopefully – you are experiencing God’s peace and joy through our presence here. And I hope that you will bring this joy and peace back to your own homes and to the other gatherings you will share this week and in the new year.
A Commonality: The Shamrock
Perhaps by now you are wondering what my Grandma, the Celtics, Jayson and Deuce have to do with Christmas!
Well, my family’s not Irish but The Celtics Logo is a shamrock… and around the year 400, St. Patrick began using the shamrock to teach about God’s love and the Trinity – three parts of God in one – three heart shaped leaves with one stem
Another thing that Grandma, Jayson’s family and our Christmas celebration all share is the gift of presence - and the joy and peace and sense of belonging that come from that.
The Gift of Presence
Throughout Advent, we’ve been singing: O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Emmanuel means “God With Us.” It’s a title that was recorded in Isaiah and given to Jesus Christ. God With Us – God is present in our lives. God is giving us the gift of presence…. like I shared with Grandma… like the camaraderie of the Celtics nation. In the good times, when we reach our goals like a championship AND in the pain, when we are grieving the loss of someone we love.
Prayerfully Pondering The "Us" In our Lives
We started this evening by singing, O Come Let Us Adore Him…
Come Let US…. It’s a song about being in communion with one another and with Christ.
We can take this opportunity to reflect on who is the “us” in our lives?
With whom do we spend time?
How do we spend time together?
Do we give each other undivided attention?
What do we do together?
Are we comfortable just be-ing in each other’s presence – even in silence?
With whom might we like to spend more time?
Do we recognize the Christ Child in one another?
Prayerfully Pondering: How do we spend time with God?
Oh come let us adore Him…
We are here tonight to adore Him – Christ – Emmanuel. Just as we are giving each other the gift of presence these holy-days, this Christmas and always, God is extending an invitation to us, to come, spend more time together and cultivate our relationship with the Holy One. Our relationship with the Divine Holy One takes time and effort – intentionality – like the one I had with Grandma, like the ones that Celtics fans enjoy with their team, like the one with Jason’s family who shows up for him.
Another question we can prayerfully ponder is:
How do we give God the gift of our presence?
When do we give God the gift of our presence?
Where do we learn how to cultivate that relationship with God?
How do we come to recognize Emmanuel’s presence with us?
We learn some of this through community – our teammates – others who value the spiritual journey.
We also can learn this through a great coach – a spiritual leader.
I invite you to keep coming back to worship and learn and experience in these two Christian communities both of which meet in person and online.
Being In Communication with God
The AMAZING thing is that as we grow in God’s love, as we spend more time adoring God, sharing our hearts with God and asking God questions – we do receive answers. We do recognize Emmanuel’s presence. We can get to the point like Deuce where we are so excited at how our Heavenly Abba Daddy God is at work in our lives that we want to leap for joy! And we might even hear this loving Divine Parent saying to us: We did it! We did it!
This divine relationship can lead each of us to sing… Joy to the World our God has come!
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