Christmas 2024

Dear All Saints’ Family,

Recently, I purchased a book titled, “Do Not Marry For Love: The Collected Poems” by Wayland Bryant Jackson. I recommend this book with its collection of interesting and intriguing poems, and share with you one that I hope you will find inspiring this Christmas season. The title is Emmanu-El: God With Us.

They met him

in places odd

at unexpected times –

in the morning coolness of a perfect garden,

at the altar built by brothers,

in the building of an ark,

beneath a tree by Abraham’s tent,

in Big-Time angel wrestling,

in the voice of an ass,

in the burning bush,

from a witch at Endor,

in a midnight cry of a sleeping child,

while tending sheep,

in a battle with Goliath,

in Mt. Carmel’s fiery rain,

in the silence of a desert cave,

behind the sarcophagus of good King Uzziah,

in a lion’s den,

pinching fruit in an orchard,

in the belly of a great fish,

from a death-defying queen,

in the midst of a flaming furnace,

in a miry prison pit,

in the lowly stable,

beside the Sea of Galilee,

in Gethsemane’s midnight darkness,

on a wooden cross,

at the mouth of an empty tomb,

on the dusty road to Emmaus,

in the tongues of fire,

on Damascus’ desert road,

in lonely exile on Patmos.

For me, it was in FoodMaxx.

The poem takes us on a journey through Biblical accounts of encounters with God. However, that final surprising line is an important reminder that God comes to each of us in our present time and daily living, even when and where we least expect it. Let us then be on the lookout for Emmanuel – “God with us” – even in the odd and unexpected places this holiday season.

Below, please find information about our Christmas services and do visit our website for links and other details. I hope you and your loved ones will join us in person or online as we worship and celebrate the birth of Jesus.

May you be filled with Christ’s love, joy, and peace this Christmas season and throughout the new year.

Yours in Christ,

The Rev. Maxine Barnett, Rector