Waiting, Seeking, Following

 

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” *

Do you look forward to special Christmas traditions each year? One long-standing tradition of mine has been inviting the neighborhood children to celebrate Jesus’ birthday at a “Birthday party for Jesus.”

Another favorite tradition has been attending the annual “Advent by Candlelight” service hosted by the women of our church. Shanda, our daughter, first invited me to go with her many years ago when we were visiting from California.

I was delighted at the invitation and was welcomed to one of the decorated tables in the Christian Life Center of Shanda’s home church by her friend, Donna Sutton. It was a wonderful evening, a great way to get prepared for Christmas.

After moving to Michigan, Al and I became members of the same church, attending the contemporary worship service and making many new friends. Shanda and I continued to go to the Advent service as often as we could, sitting at Donna’s table.

            When the event was livestreamed due to the Covid pandemic, I invited Shanda and a few friends to our house for the program. Unfortunately, the next year Shanda was unable to attend the Advent evening due to illness, as was our original hostess, Donna Sutton.

I shared a table as co-hostesses with a friend whom Al and I met through the contemporary worship service. She, Kristin, picked up the dessert and got all of the table decorations together. Then I decorated the table beforehand. Kristin would have to prepare for her musical portion of the program, so I would greet our guests as they gathered around the table.

When the time came last year to sign up, Shanda was nearing her final days. I decided to stay home and watch it online with Al.

 As soon as the opportunity came early this past November, I reserved a table, again teaming up with Kristin. I invited our granddaughter, Kendra, hoping to keep the tradition going that Shanda started.

The night before going to the church and setting up the table, I decided to unravel the tiny battery-operated lights that would adorn the centerpiece, made of a garland and two candles. From past experience, those lights could twist themselves into the worst kind of knots.

After an hour of patience-testing unraveling, I finally found the end of the thin wire. It had twisted itself around one of the lights and was difficult to find. One unusual looking lump of wire clued me in.

Winding the wire around a piece of cardboard and taping the loose end to the cardboard solved the problem. When it came time to wrap the lights around the garland on our designated table, thankfully there weren’t any knots to unravel.

 I had also ordered a dozen artificial poinsettias to place around the garland, due to be delivered on the day of the Advent service. I decided it would be okay either way, with or without them…and left it in the hands of the Lord. They arrived just before Kendra was to pick me up!

“You’re an angel,” I told the delivery person. He was!

Kendra helped with the last-minute preparations; and by the time the guests arrived, the table was ready. We enjoyed a wonderful evening of fellowship, as well as inspiring messages on “Peace,” “Hope,” “Joy,” and “Love,” and of course the beautiful music.

Our tradition carried on! I’m already looking forward to next year’s event, Lord willing.

Waiting…Simeon waiting in Jerusalem, along with others expecting the coming of the Messiah. Seeking…the wise men on a very long journey to find the newborn King.

And so we wait, not only for the celebration of Christmas, but also for Christ’s return to reign over the earth. As we wait, may we seek to faithfully follow Him.

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’” (Hebrews 10:35-38 NIV)

*Luke 2:25-26 NIV