To everyone who works this Christmas: THANK YOU. It is Monday December 23, 2024. Early morning and I’m in my study with a coffee and advent/Christmas songs playing in the background. I ponder. To all the pastors serving and retired. Thank you. I fondly recall this time of year growing up with the church being an integral and central part of my life. I always remember my mother having worked her last night shift before going back a few days later. She got home on the morning of December 24 and didn’t sleep. She got busy taking care of all the cooking for our family and friends coming over for our traditional no meat Christmas Eve dinner. But in the background, she was juggling all the smells of turkey, dressing, meatballs, gravy, vegetables, that creamy mashed potato all waiting to make their appearance on Christmas Day. My father would come home by four o clock (having set the table with all the fine crystal and chinaware the night before). Guests would be there for five ...
