This Christmas will be the first Christmas that Jordan and I share together as a married couple. As a result, we are establishing new traditions, adjusting old ones and doing a lot of driving to both families on Christmas Day. Jordan is continuing her family's tradition of baking cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning and we bought stockings that hopefully will still look good 10 years from now (I guess that depends if Santa fills them with coal or not).

    I am sure that you and your family have a few Christmas rituals that you cherish each and every year. Perhaps it is making cookies with your grandmother or grandchild. Maybe it is attending the 11 p.m. Christmas Eve service to ring in Christmas Day with a candle held in the air while singing "Silent Night." Or maybe it is waking up on Christmas morning and baking cinnamon rolls for the family. We all have those few things that make Christmas feel like Christmas.

    For me, it is singing my favorite Christmas hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." This Christmas Eve at our candlelight services we will join together in singing this celebratory hymn in which the angels proclaim,

"Glory to the newborn King;

Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"

    That line, "God and sinners reconciled," always takes my breath away. The miraculousness of Christmas is not found in the presents or cinnamon rolls, but in this new born baby who reconciles our relationship with God. This Christmas, as some of us establish new traditions and as some of us continue decades-old family traditions, let us worship and give thanks to the God who established with us a relationship of grace through the gift of the Christ child.

   Merry Christmas,

Our annual Christmas offering is an opportunity to support First United Methodist Church of Marietta's local and global mission work. You may make your donation when the offering is received during worship services this Sunday, December 20 and Christmas Eve.