It’s Christmas Eve. And today is the day I get to find out if my Christmas spirituality is A) all about Jesus, or B) all about tradition.

Let me explain. Rebekah has been in ministry now for 31-plus years. This means that today is Christmas Eve #32 since we left graduate school and headed to Trinity Presbyterian Church in Pensacola, Florida. Our 17 Christmas Eves at First Brandon (1996-2012) were – essentially – the same as the 14 in Pensacola.

The format was inspirational, beautiful, and deeply spiritual. But it also became familiar, comforting, and – dare I say – expected.

BRAND NEW! So today, after 31-years of doing Christmas Eve the same way, I’ll be attending two completely different experiences at WFPC.

• First, at 4:00, there’s a “family friendly,” interactive worship service that includes elements such as Rebekah interviewing Moses and King David. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
• Then, at 8:00, we have the more traditional “Service of Lessons, Carols, and Candles.”

Bottom line; Christmas Eve is going to be different. And the question is going to be this: Am I going to miss the familiarity, or am I going to embrace the opportunity to meet Jesus in new and creative ways?

“By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)

WIDE OPEN? Of course, this is the question we face each and every day. Is my heart wide open to God’s fresh and constantly innovative spirit? Do I really believe that God’s love is new every morning? Am I as ready to receive the coming of the King as I say I am? Or am I going to try my best to fit God – and God’s work – into my comfortable and familiar patterns?

This evening  – wherever I go in response to my need to pause, and to acknowledge the coming of Jesus – marks one more opportunity to ask God to do a new thing in my life.

Because I’m not attending Christmas Eve services for nostalgia, or familiarity, or for any kind of a nod to the past; I’m headed to Wake Forest Presbyterian Church to worship, and to thank God for the coming of Jesus.

Because of Life! – DEREK