December is the month when we prepare for Christmas. The weeks leading up to Christmas are filled with gift purchases, parties, desserts, Hallmark movies, carols, plays, and pageants. Did I mention gifts? But have we made Christmas too complicated? For many, December hovers over our lives like a low cloud that can quickly become a gloomy overcast. Avoiding the traffic and the crowds, trying to find that perfect gift makes Christmas feel more like a checklist to complete than a gift to receive. 

A checklist is the furthest thing from the meaning of Christmas: God’s gift and promise of Jesus' coming so that we might have life and live it to the fullest. Preparing for Christmas invites us to Do Life Together by looking beyond ourselves to anticipate God’s greatest gift: the timeless good news of Jesus’ birth that offers us a chance at New Life.

The classic Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life also touches on the move away from a checklist life to Doing Life Together for a New Life by using our gifts to serve the community's needs. On Christmas Eve, the main character, George Bailey, unexpectedly discovers how one life touches another and that life touches another, and so on when we look beyond our ambitions and dreams. His father’s death forces him to take over the Savings and Loan, which he nearly bankrupts, and he is so distraught that he gives up on life. 

After he sees the impact of remaining in his hometown, he prays to God to get his life back, and when everything is back to normal, he runs through his hometown of Bedford Falls, thanking God and yelling jubilantly, “Merry Christmas!” 

Through disappointments and unexpected events, George discovers it is a wonderful life, even after giving up on his checklist of dreams. He’s grateful even for the inconveniences and difficulties of life because he uses his gifts to serve a need in his community. 

Christmas doesn’t have to be a checklist. Instead, it can be a wonderful life for you as you experience God’s greatest gift.

Here are some opportunities for you to join us during December as we Do Life Together to explore how to share a Wonderful Life:

- December Sermon Series – It’s a Wonderful Life  l  9:30AM & 11AM

- Sunday, December 3  l  Festival of Lessons and Carols  l  4PM  l  Sanctuary 

- Wednesday, December 6  l  Service of Hope  l  6:30PM  l  Sanctuary

- Sunday, December 24  l  Regular 9:30AM and 11AM morning services

- Sunday, December 24  l  Christmas Eve Candlelight Services  l  5:00PM  l  11:00PM with Holy Communion

- Sunday, December 31  l  10:30AM Christmas Sweater Combined Service  l  Sanctuary (wear your favorite Christmas sweater!)

At the Intersection,

Dr. Quincy D. Brown

Senior Pastor