A Christmas Message from the Pastor

December 5, 2009

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM THE PASTOR

Dear MCC Friends:

Greetings to you in this holy season! May it be a time of peace and of peace making! May peace prevail on earth! And as we prepare for and celebrate the Nativity, my most sincere prayer is that the peace of Christ be born anew in your hearts and in mine.

In Luke's gospel, we read these words in the Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79):

78 By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.

As the wheel of the year turns through the season of winter, Christians for generations have kindled the light of the Advent candles. The days shorten and the sun sinks lower in the southern skies, but the festal lights grow brighter with longing and anticipation. Advent is the season of hope. We recall that this present darkness, this age of violence, war, inhumanity, is passing away. We affirm the new age of peace and freedom that God has inaugurated in Christ and brings closer to fulfillment through our offering of ourselves to the work of God's commonwealth-creating truly human community where all are welcomed and affirmed, building bridges of understanding as we tear down barriers of hate, and loudly, persistently proclaiming the song the angels sang over the hills of Bethlehem:

"Peace on earth, good will to all!"

At the top of this posting is a flier of our MCC Advent, Christmas and Epiphany events. I hope you will be able to join in some if not all of them. Through the observance of the Sundays of Advent, we walk the circle of hope, peace, joy, and love. On Christmas Eve we find again our spiritual center in the newborn Christ, the Word-made-flesh, God-with-us, Emmanuel. On December 20th, we observe the Winter Solstice with the singing of many Christmas carols and our Congregational Christmas Pageant. We will also bless the kristingles, share in holiday refreshments, and take a special offering to support the feeding programs of Center City Churches. On December 27th we will celebrate Kwanzaa. And on the 31st we will observe Watchnight, gathering to pray in the New Year, giving thanks for the blessings of 2009 and seeing new and even greater blessings in 2010. Clyde and Scott have invited us to their home in East Hartford on Saturday, January 2, for a holiday fundraising dinner to support the church. January 3rd, Three Kings Day, is our Epiphany celebration. All these are events to which I hope you will invite your friends, neighbors, and family, and so widen the circle of blessing, spreading the good news of God's all-embracing love more far and wide.

2009 has been indeed a year of many blessings. My deepest gratitude goes to God who has (still, to me, surprisingly) called and equipped me to this ministry among you. I also must thank my husband, Julio, and all the staff, board, members, and friends of the congregation, without whose love and support my ministry would be as "a noisy gong or a clanging symbol." From the beginning, and at the end, and everywhere along the way, it is LOVE that gives meaning to this and every season. I forget that at peril to my own soul. We all need to be reminded that love is the only gift that endures. We need each other to recall that divine Love whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.

Emmanuel is the newborn's name-God is with us.

In the midst of the hectic hustle and bustle that the holiday season has become, please remember to find some time to pause and reflect on the goodness of God's love and on the blessing of friends and family (queer and straight) in your lives. In a time of war (and cultural warfare!) please take time to light a candle for peace, pray for peace, work for peace on earth, at home, and everywhere you go. In the midst of world-wide economic retrenchment, as the rich still grow richer and the poor grow even poorer, please recall that the best gifts carry no price tags and that feeding the hungry never goes out of style. In the midst of the media saturated noise and confusion of a culture ever more technologically interwoven, but increasingly lacking in heart-to-heart human encounter, please make time to join your family and friends of faith in worship.

Advent and Christmas prepare us to celebrate the coming of God into our human lives. At MCC Hartford we celebrate the height and depth and breadth of God's love. We affirm the goodness of our full humanity in its many God-given sexualities, genders, ethnicities and cultures. We rejoice in the blessings of our queer families and communities.

A Holy Advent, a very Merry Christmas, and a New Year of peace be yours!

In Christ's Service,

George A. Chien, Senior Pastor,
MCC Hartford