CREEDE HINSHAW: The church faithfully proclaims Christmas

Last week, I suggested that the church sometimes elevates nostalgia over the revolutionary implications of the birth of Jesus. In so doing I did not mean to impugn do the church that tenderly helps children, youth and adults find and sustain faith in moving ways in the Advent/Christmas season.

I have been nourished and empowered by the church now for almost 70 Christmases and my gratitude for and appreciation of the way the church imparts the faith in this season is strong.

My earliest memory of the church at Christmas locates me in the linoleum-floored, iron-columned bursting with excitement, an ardor undimmed by simple gift of a red-net bag filled with oranges, tangerines and peppermints. The church, which had no problem mixing Santa and Jesus, sustained me for the first two decades of my Christian journey.

In my late teen/early adult years, the choir of that church at Christmas sang John Peterson’s cantata “Miracle of Miracles.” Peterson’s songs live in my heart over 40 years later.

Those who appreciate fine music decry Peterson and others as sappy and sentimental, and though I have grown to appreciate music more complex and lyrics more sophisticated, I am grateful for popular composers and faithful choirs and soloists who joyfully sing the simple, compelling truth of Jesus’ birth.

The first candlelight Christmas Eve communion service I attended took place in Columbus, Ga., at Wynnton United Methodist Church over 40 years ago. This young adult, newly married to a life-long Methodist, was introduced to this Dec. 24 tradition in a packed sanctuary sparkling with candles held by joyous worshipers.

A soloist sang from the balcony that evening, a gracious Southern lady with a rich Alabama accent told a moving Christmas story, and my wife and I received holy communion on our knees facing the glowing Chrismon tree.

Such services sustain faith decade after decade.

I salute the ways the church proclaims faith during Advent and Christmas: the lighting of and liturgy of Advent candles; Christians who sing Christmas carols to the homebound; the breakfasts and causal worship services on Christmas Sunday mornings; the significant, merciful ways the church extends hospitality and love to the homeless, the orphaned, the immigrant and the disenfranchised; the hanging of the greens and the decorating of the church with greenery, poinsettia and Christmas/Chrismon trees; the polishing of the brass; the live nativity scenes; the choirs, orchestras and children’s music; the delivery of holy communion to the homebound; the offerings received for church missions.

The church preaches and testifies to God incarnate in Jesus Christ season after season with popular traditions that become apologetically, unavoidably nostalgic. The joyful remembrance of Christmas past does not have to be opposed to the radical and revolutionary ways of living out the “Godspell.”

The church at Christmas has sustained faithful followers over the centuries and the most sentimental, nostalgic act of worship can lead to the most radical and revolutionary results in our world.

Email columnist Creede Hinshaw, a retired Methodist minister, at [email protected].