Not Sure How to Do this Holiday Season

This Christmas will be unlike those we've experienced in about 20 years. Typically, we were involved in church things up until the moment we put away the musical instruments on Christmas Eve. Of course, in between Christmas and New Year's Eve, we took down the Christmas decorations at church. Working at a retail store for the last four Christmases basically burned me out. I saw enough Christmas stuff to do me for years - starting each August.

This year is different. I am not working in retail anymore (YAY!). The church I attend has people who do all the decorating. Between Thanksgiving and the first Sunday of Advent, the whole place transforms. It's beautiful. The trees lining the street to the church are all lite. The lobby has great decorations. The lighting in the sanctuary is seasonal. There is a Memorial Service for folks who have lost loved ones in the past year. All of this is great; I'm just not in the middle of any of the planning or doing of it.

So . . . how shall we do this holiday season? I'd like to make it really meaningful. I'm just not sure what that looks like. I'm beginning to think I really have to rethink this whole season. I don't know that we've been over commercial in the past; we just didn't have the money for that. I'm just in the thinking process. More to come . . .

The Leaves are Gone

The last month I would have liked to have been in this little cabin watching the snow come and melt again. Alas though, I was in PA for a week, then home for work, school and company. I have missed the Fall colors, but they were lovely in PA. There are very lovely in Colorado as well.

Just a week ago, I was in Colorado Springs at New Life Church. It was a great service of worship and Pastor Ted Haggard teaching. There was some political discussion which seems to have stirred up a mess. That next week, the story was broken by a Denver TV station of a gay male escort who said Pastor Ted often used his services. The man accused Pastor Ted of buying methanphetamines as well. The shock of this news rippled throughout evangelicalism. I was pretty sad about the whole situation. Pastor Ted confessed and was was removed. He is now going through a long term kind of repentance and restoration time. I don't know what his future holds, but I am praying for both Ted, his wife, Gayle, and their children.

So, while I would really like to be holed up in this nice little cabin, I understand that I need to be active in my world. Being very aware that right at this moment I don't have any real accountability, I am challenged by what is now wafting through the evangelical waves of thought. I have written a couple of the pastors on staff at my church. I encouraged them to be sure to be accountable. I don't know that my thinking matters much, but I really do love them and want them to be in accountability to someone who can speak very truthfully to them. They are so vulnerable to attack. I'm continuing to pray for them.

So . . . I will try to get back to writing. This Christmas season is going to be so very different for me. I'm looking forward to this year. More to come . . .