At every moment of every day, we have the opportunity to either live in a way dedicated to Christ or not. So, as long as we have breath, it is not too late to start devoting our lives to God.

From August to December, I had the blessing of planning the Joint Christmas Celebration (in retrospect, I should have started earlier). I can confidently say that the pastoral staff and I were praying earnestly for the event, and the Body of Christ surely delivered through all the volunteers and performers. If you attended that night, my hope was that we were able to enjoy the awe and wonder of Jesus becoming man together as one church. I hoped that we could celebrate together the gift that God gave to us and worship Him gratefully.

However, that worship did NOT start at 6:00 pm that night. That worship started when you enjoyed the season of Christmas. That worship started when you were patiently dressing your child, not knowing why one shoe was over here and the other was over there. That worship started when you forgave the person who cut you off on the road. That worship started when you were stressed about finding parking, but followed the parking volunteer’s instructions. That worship started when you weren’t dressed in your Christmas best, but just wanted to be with God’s people in God’s house.

And, naturally, that worship did NOT end at 8:00 pm. It continued when we let others mingle with their friends, moving slower than we liked. It continued when we didn’t take all the nicer bookmarks we wanted, but left some for those behind us. It continued when we weren’t sure if Minister Petros actually ordered enough food, so we took less. It continued after we wished our security guards a Merry Christmas. Our worship continues to this day.

Our worship as one church is seen best by those who share space with us during the rest of the week. I know that you are a worshipful and religious congregation when I see you together. I pray that we can live worshipfully even when we think no one will see us.