At the early family gathering on Christmas Eve, my job was to welcome people and send them out with a blessing.
At this candlelight service, I was the musician, leading not with my voice this time, but with my clarinet. Peter, Margaret & David led the prayers and readings and reflections, and invited us to light candles from the Christ candle, lit now at Christmas, lit in the centre of the Advent candles of our waiting now over.
As we approached the story, we reflected on the image ‘Face to Face’ from the SeasonsFUSION materials, finding a place of anxiety, a place of love, within its colours and shapes. Michael Leunig says there is only fear and love at the heart of human emotion and motivation. I remember telling the story of one of John’s letters a couple of months ago, in which he says that ‘perfect’ (or complete, whole) love casts out fear. We heard the story of the birth of Christ, in which the invitation to participate in God’s Way of Love might be met with fear, or with love.
How will we respond?
