The Velveteen Rabbit was told by the old skin horse one night in the nursery that “love makes you real.” Contemplating that idea is the work of Advent, the four week season before Christmas. In the Episcopal Church, we don’t put up Christmas decorations until after the fourth Sunday of Advent so that we remain in a season of preparation for the mysterious and lovely birth of the Christ Child. It is his love that makes us real. It is his love that makes others real to us. When someone becomes real you cannot overlook their pain, you cannot turn your back on their suffering, you cannot stand idle when they are abused.
That Christian love comes to us in the simplicity of a child can tend to blur the radical message of Christmas. If we accept Christ’s love, we must turn and offer our own to everyone else. It began with the frightened shepherds shielding their eyes from the brightness of the message. And lest we forget, shepherds were not socially acceptable people, anymore than were the tax collectors and sinners that Jesus drew near to him. Christian love is hard work and to practice it we must overcome all of our pre-conceived notions about others. In Christmas, we are challenged to re-conceive how we view the world and those with whom we share it. Sometimes, it feels as if the four weeks of Advent go by too quickly. It is not nearly enough time to prepare for such a change of heart. Are we ready to be real to one another?
Christmas Eve schedule: 5:00 PM Family Service and 10:00 PM Festival Eucharist with music from Handel’s Messiah. Christmas Day: 10:00 AM. Join us for our regular Sunday worship at 9:30 AM with Sunday School and fellowship afterwards. We are located one block west of La Paz, between Avila and Aliso Creek, behind City Hall, in the Laguna Niguel Business Park.
Faith Episcopal Church
27802 El Lazo
Laguna Niguel, CA
448-8114 www.faithepiscopal.org
