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Brothers and sisters,

There are a lot of different ways to tell that it’s Christmastime right now. The decorations in people’s yards. The endless ads telling me how many shopping days are left till Christmas. The fact that Mix 101.5 is nothing but Christmas music right now. But for me, one of the main ways I am constantly reminded it’s nearly Christmas is my Instagram feed.
For those that may not know, Instagram is a social media app that runs based on an algorithm. Basically, I “follow” different accounts on the app to see their posts. Instagram’s algorithm then monitors which accounts I follow and which posts I click on to suggest new accounts for me to follow and new posts to click on. I follow several different cooking accounts on Instagram and all those accounts are putting out holiday/Christmas recipes right now. Their stuff looks good, so I click on their posts and watch the whole vid-eo they’ve posted. That then tells the algorithm that I like that content, meaning I obviously want to see more of it.

Long story short, my Instagram feed is buried in thirty to sixty second videos of Christmas recipes right now, particularly Christmas cookie recipes. One account is showing off the five different recipes they made to make their “Christmas cookie box.” Another account is showing how they recreated their great grandfather’s bakery out of gingerbread. Yet another account shows how they made “log cookies” that are made of two different doughs swirled together, then sliced, and individually cut to look like log slices, before being baked and packaged to look like a bundle of firewood.

Now, baking has always seemed like magic to me. I can bake, but only if there is a recipe and only if I follow it exactly. But in watching all these different accounts, all these different posts, all these different cookies, I noticed something. For the most part, the basic ingredients stay the same—flour, butter, sugar. And a lot of the basic techniques are the same—dry ingredients to one side, wet ingredients to the other, cooling doughs once mixed. It isn’t until midway through the recipe that you begin to see how each cookie is uniquely its own or how each baker adds their unique personality to it. They start with the basics, build a strong foundation, and allow their creativity to flourish.

In that way, these Christmas cookies re-mind me of the faith of individual Christians. We all agree on the same basic tenets—Jesus Christ is the son of God; our sins are forgiven when we place our faith in him, etc. And a lot of broader ways we express our faith are the same—serving our community through volun-teer work; talking with others about our own faith, etc. But as we grow more and more into our faith, we learn how to express ourselves in ways that are more consistent with the gifts God has given to us. Some folks are called to be musicians. Some folks are called to not only volunteer with organizations but lead them and create opportunities for others. Some folks are called to teach others about the faith. It’s not magic, but it is amazing what God can do with us when we affirm those basic beliefs, build a strong foundation, and focus our creativity on honoring God.

Merry Christmas,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

Back in 2019, while I was the pastor at Sharon Baptist Church in Smithfield, I preached a series of sermons that used Christmas carols as points of emphasis. It was very similar to our “Faith and Art” series, but with carols instead of art pieces. On the Sunday of Peace, I wanted to focus on the idea that the things God desires are different from the things people desire. In particular, I wanted to focus on the second verse of one of my favorite carols (as printed in the 1991 Baptist Hymnal) and the righteous indignation of the carol’s author. With that in mind, here’s what I wrote back then:

Now, the carol I wanted to take a little closer look at today is our final hymn this morning, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. I have always loved this particular hymn. As a child, it was mostly because I liked the tune — it is so different from the sound of most Christmas carols. As I got a little older I started to like it more because of the presence of the angels. Now as an adult, I love it because of the fact that while this carol is certainly more melancholy than most of the others we’ll sing over the next few weeks, the writer, Edmund H. Sears, never gives up hope. He dreams of a world, as he says, “When peace shall over all the earth Its ancient splendors fling,/And the whole world give back the song Which now the angels sing.” Sears was a pastor all the way back in 1849 and while his exact inspiration is not known, most folks seem to think he wrote this carol in response to the many wars raging in Europe and in response to the end of the Mexican-American War. And so I love the kind of resilient hope that comes from the second verse. In the first verse the pastor establishes that the song the angels are singing is “Peace on the earth, good will to men.” Not only that, but the song comes from “heav’n’s all-gracious King.” And so in the second verse he writes, “Yet with the woes of sin and strife The world has suffered long,/Beneath the angel strain have rolled Two thou-sand years of wrong;/And man, at war with man, hears not The love song which they bring:/O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing!” Sears believed deeply that the war, the violence, the strife that was afflicting his world was not God’s intention. In this carol, the angels sing God’s message of peace and good will, and Sears is confident that one day the world will sing along with the angels. But at the moment, it seemed to him that people would rather continue on with their sinful ways. They’d rather drown out the music of heaven, with the noise of worldly power. And so I love that line, “O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing!”

So many things in our world clamor for our attention. So many of those things claim that they can offer us hope, peace, joy, and love, but only if we’re willing to ignore the truth — that the angels have been singing a song of peace over the world for thousands of years, but we’ve allowed ourselves to listen to “men of strife” instead. This Advent, I’d encourage you to push back on the things that cause you strife and hear the angels sing, “Peace on the earth, good will to men.”

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

Advent is almost here! Even though I’m writing this article on November 19th, the next Illuminator will not come out until after Advent has begun! So, let me run down the Advent schedule for you all and tell you about the special services we are having here at Hope Valley to celebrate the birth of Christ.

First of all, Sunday, November 30th will be our Hanging of the Greens service. This service happens during morning worship and is a time for us to celebrate and participate in the joy and the ceremony of Advent! It is a service of readings and carols in which we finish decorating the sanctuary and explain the meanings behind all the various decorations and symbols on display. It is a dynamic service in which people will move about the sanctuary, special carols will be sung, and all will be invited to contemplate what Advent means for us. Make plans to be here that Sunday!

The next special service will be on Sunday, December 14th, again during morning worship. That Sunday, the musicians at our church will be leading us in our annual musical service. This year, the title is, “Peace on Earth”. The choir will sing. The handbells will play. The children of the church will sing. There will be readings that bring out the message of Christmas. And immediately following that service, there will be a reception—a time of fellowship for all of us to gather, share some food, and catch up with each other before the last big push toward Christmas. All are invited to come, so tell your friends, family, neighbors, etc.

Finally, on Wednesday, December 24th, we will have our Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion Service in the sanctuary. That service will start at 5:00 PM. This ser-vice always ends up being a delightfully intimate service. It’s the night before Christmas, meaning much of the hub-bub and preparations have been finished, and there’s just a general sense of peace and quiet that comes over the world. In that peace, we gather at the church to hear the Christ-mas story, sing familiar songs, take Communion together, and light candles as we welcome the Light of the World. It serves as a moment to catch our breath before the holiday itself—so come and celebrate with us!

There are other Christmas events happen-ing throughout this time as well—check the rest of the Illuminator for those. But I look forward to worshiping with you all over the next month as we celebrate the birth of Christ once again.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben