Grace and Peace Beloved St. Lukers and Friends,
With Advent now in full swing, our worship spaces are beautifully and festively adorned with Advent décor and Chrismons! (“Does Pastor Jad’s spellcheck not work?”) Yes, you read that right: Chrismons. Our Christmas trees are decorated with Chrismons and we call those Christmas trees, Chrismon trees. “Chris,” meaning Christ, and “mon,” meaning monograms. These are Christ monograms, symbols of Jesus Christ. If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you take some time on Sunday and examine the Chrismon trees in our worship spaces to see not only their beauty, but what they represent.
You know, you and I, we can be Chrismons, too. We have the opportunity each and every day, not only during Advent/Christmas, to find ways to beautifully represent Christ to the world. I witnessed this powerfully over the last seven days. One was at the Sleep in Heavenly Peace bed build. 100+ of you came out to make 47 (our goal was 40) bunk beds. Those are safe, warm, comfortable sleeping spaces for 94 children. Chrismons. I have also witnessed Christ beautifully represented as our Community Choir, Dance Ensemble, Children’s Choir, Tech Team, and Orchestra have gathered together for the final rehearsals for this week’s Christmas Concerts. It’s powerful to see all of these different people from different backgrounds and histories, with different experiences of life and faith come together to make the story of God born into our lives in such a beautiful way. Chrismons. We are so excited for this weekend of completely sold-out shows and look forward to sharing this story with hundreds of St. Lukers and members of our community alike.
As Advent continues on there are more opportunities for you and I to be Chrismons...
