Finding the Way Home
The eNewsletter Archive

Below is the archived version of Marshall Hayden's eNewesletter "Finding the Way Home." If you would like to be added to to mailing list, please send a blank email to evangelism-subscribe@worthingtoncc.org.

You may also view our archived articles here.

Christmas 2008

The First Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve in 2008 I’ve been thinking about what it would have been like to have been there for the first one. And those thoughts move very quickly to the first Christmas Day.

The day before Christmas, though, would have been pretty normal, pretty quiet – at least for those shepherds, who in just a few hours would be scared out of their skin, and changed forever. It was a busy Bethlehem, with frustrated and somewhat puzzled folks gathering for the king’s registration. It was a pensive Mary, still running this impending birth, with all of its significance, over and over in her mind. It was an excited, determined, but still fairly confused Joseph, who was taking his assigned responsibilities very seriously. But to the populace in general, and for the hard-working, plain people out there with their sheep, it was rather quiet.

Everything changed when an angel from God appeared. “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord.” And in a flash that angel was joined by “a great company of the heavenly host... praising God and saying ‘glory to God in the highest.’” It wasn’t quiet any longer. The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem, and when they had seen the child they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which was just as they had been told.”

This evening Christians and hopeful seekers will get together in churches all over the world. The mayor of Bethlehem has reported that every hotel is filled and that they expect twice as many people to gather in manger square as there were last year. It’s a year when we have been bombarded with news of financial fright and political intrigue; but I believe that it is a year when there is a hunger for hope, and a willingness to listen for good news. That peace, and joy, and promise will be the theme in almost every corner of the globe tonight.

Then comes the morning; and divine love takes center stage.

A couple thousand of us will be together as the family of Worthington Christian Church. Personally, I’m really looking forward to it – the thoughtful excitement, the fellowship, and the worship.

• At 4:30 PM our children and their families will come to sing, visit the animals, and listen to the old story with new joy.
• At 6:30 PM our adult choir, instrumental ensemble, and bell choir will help us raise our praise; and we will light candles together.
• At 8:30 PM we will sing the hymns, read the scriptures, hear musical messages and a devotional story, and light the candles.

One request! If you are able to walk just a few more steps and leave spaces in the front and back parking lots for our guests, we would be grateful if you would park in the lot that surrounds the buildings of our office neighbors to the south.

“Joy to the world, the lord has come. Let earth receive her king.”