Christmas Sensations 

When you think of Christmas, what do you think about it? Candles, sugar cake, gifts, lights, hot cocoa? I think about songs. My favorites are Love is            Breathing by Our Hearts Hero and Whitney Huston's version of Joy to the World. You will also hear me listening on repeat to Now Behold the Lamb by Kirk Franklin, any version of Little Drummer Boy, and anything from Kathy Mattea's Good News album. Music sets the tone for the season. 

I also reminisce with thoughts of oysters and the sound of my extended family echoing off each wall of my Great Aunt Betty and Great Uncle Bud's home. After all the Christmas Eve services at  Graceham Moravian, my Great Aunt and Uncle opened up their home for family and friends to come and celebrate into the night. 

Cousins played darts and ping pong. The family laughed and messed with each other. The great aunts and my grandmother were in the kitchen waiting for trays of raw oysters to be delivered from the basement. Once the trays arrived, they went to work preparing Oyster Rockefellers. 

The basement kitchen is where relatives tasted homemade Dandelion wine while Oysters were shucked and shallowed right off the shell or dropped into a pot of butter. I remember the Christmas I tried Oyster Rockerfellers, and the following Christmas when I tried the oysters raw. I still enjoy both versions.  If I had to pick a food I associated with Christmas, it's oysters! 

Christmas is a time of memories for all of us; we each have smells, tastes, sights, and sounds that bring specific memories back. Hopefully, some of those things set our minds and spirits on Jesus. 

May our traditions and sensory sensations help us grow in our faith as we reflect on when love took the form of a baby meant to heal our broken relationship with God by way of the cross and an empty tomb.

Love is Breathing by Our Heart's Hero

What is this lightning?

What is this thundering?

And what on earth has happened.

That makes angels sing?

In all the confusion

I almost left the sheep

The town begins to pack

Down the path from me

Another shepherd comes my way

I run to meet him

He strains to try and catch his breath

He's barely breathing

His voice is shaking and fading thin

As he starts to speak

You won't believe what I've seen

Love is breathing

Hope is screaming tonight

In the baby's cry

I held mercy

I saw grace inside

Of this newborn's eyes

And everything we know is about to change

He's laying in the stable in a manger

Asleep on the hay

He said go quickly

And I will watch the sheep

But you have got to witness

All these mysteries

I ran to the village

And when I reached the streets

The keeper of the inn began to cry out to me

Have you heard this news he said

I just don't understand

If I had known that they were coming

I would have made room just for them

Until you realize in this small town

What's happening

You won't believe

What I've seen

Love is breathing

Hope is screaming tonight

In the baby's cry

I held mercy

I saw grace inside

Of this newborn's eyes

And everything we know is about to change

It was quiet at the stable

In the stillness of the night

My heart was pounding in my chest

As I peeked inside

He's a young carpenter

And she was just a little girl

And terrified, and carrying

The fate of the whole World

And then she looked me in the eyes

And held her arms out wide

You won't believe what I see tonight

Love is breathing (alleluia, alleluia, alleluia)

Love is breathing (alleluia, alleluia)

Love is breathing

—Pastor Sayward Lippincott