Simply Christmas

Beloved: 


    Home is the least-hyped place I go this Christmas week, and I couldn’t love it more.  I love not feeling crazy.  I love not feeling overwhelmed by the expectations of the faceless others I sometimes imagine judging me.  I love when the word incarnation makes more sense to me than Black Friday and Amazon Prime.  Which is not to say I don’t enjoy certain things like mocha star cookies and small scale decorating.  Family get-togethers are hands down the best.  Again, it’s those hugely hyped-up expectations that give this season the life-sucking edge I dread so much.  Though recently I’ve come to wonder if this might be my problem and not the faceless others’. ​

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    My husband’s recovery of choice is feeding people:  me, our kids, our neighbors, our church family, homeless people.  Lately there’s nobody for whom he won’t make up a batch of goat cheese bruschetta.  Nothing says incarnation so much as good food in hungry bellies.  My own little project is trying to be gently present in rough abandoned places.  Nobody expects either and it seems a little wrong to boast.  But also useful to say that we are finding our own way to love this season more than we ever have.  Turns out all those people we imagined expected something else don’t care enough to comment.  Maybe all that stress truly was our problem after all.


    Whatever shape your heart and mind are in this Christmas week, you are in my prayers and I pray to be in yours.  To be your pastor or your friend is the very heart of incarnation to me always.  May you find your own kind of a very merry Christmas.  

~ peace & prayers,
pastor annette

After lots of requests, here is the recipe for Erika's Favorite Cheese Ball!

Erika's Favorite Cheese Ball