Christmas Expectation

That was the title for this Sunday's morning worship and celebration time: Christmas Expectation, for Christmas was just a week away.



Christmas is coming - are you ready? No, not are all your gifts bought and wrapped - but are you ready for the blessings God has for you this Christmas season?

And once again, our sanctuary was filled with song - "Canticle of Joy" (for each of these music links, scroll down the linked page to Audio Previews and click on 'full-length' to hear the song), "Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne",



and "Bethlehem Joy" ("Good news! Great joy! Mary's had a baby boy...").

Some of the Chapel kids and teens came to the front with me



and after seeing how they used to trim trees in the 'days gone by' (Pastor Bill's childhood Christmas home movie!)



we made our own version of a "Crismon Tree" - apparently it's the 50th anniversary of this tradition, but our first time at it, and so we had made "crismons" (Christ monograms - gold and white handmade ornaments that depict names of Christ or aspects of His life and power). Different women and girls in the church made each of ours in counted cross stitch



(there were no pattern books I could find anywhere - so I 'clicked to enlarge' the crismons shown here and figured out the patterns from looking at the pictures.)



The Chapel kids hung the crismon ornaments on two of the trees and added candy canes as well, to remind us of the shepherds who were the first to worship Christ.

Paul D'Angelo and the choir sang the moving song "Who Is This King?" -

Who is this King
That sets the captives free?
Who is this King
Who makes the leper clean?
Who is this King
who has the power
to forgive the darkest sin?
Jesus is His name...

as our hearts were softened to hear the Word of God preached with power and the anointing of God.



Our messages are rich - there is no other word for them. We have heard about the tetragrammaton - the holy name of God, and the hypostatic union - the complete divinity and humanity of Christ in which He retained all of His divine nature but humbled Himself and became poor (not royal, not even middle class, but poor), for us...totally human yet still totally God -



and Pastor presented these truths in such a way that young and old, visitor and Chapel family member, could thrill to them as much as to the music and the setting.

And when the service was over, we feasted!



Instead of our usual 'potluck,' we had a first-time Christmas Family Dinner catered by Eight Hills in nearby Verona. One hundred and fifty of us gathered downstairs for chicken savoy, roast beef, meatballs, penne vodka, salad, fruit and cheese platters and more. A banquet worthy of the occasion...



Chapel people brought desserts (what a spread that was!)



and we even had a special treat -



the cotton candy machine we had used that Friday for our Salt and Light Night at the Movies (we showed the kids "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" to cotton candy and popcorn)



- and everyone got into the act.



What fun we had...



Pastor and Lois, still romancing after fifty years of marriage...



Then it was time for the Salt and Light Band -



and Steve Kropa, Mark Schoonfield,



Matt Kenny and Pastor Bill played, while Bethany Abrams and the kids got us all singing.



* * * * * *

And it's not over yet. Each Monday night, the Chapel Choir has been rehearsing for these December Sunday Celebrations.



It's a lot of work, as Pastor, the sound guys, and the choir work together to prepare for these presentations. But something happens in these rehearsals. God meets in extraordinary ways. When the choir sang their songs for this Sunday, Marilyn Schmidt sang "Birthday of a King,"



and Stan Zimmerman and Paul D'Angelo practiced their powerful "My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation,"



the presence of the Lord was in that place. We could scarcely speak, we were so aware of Him.

This Sunday is something to look forward to - we can't wait to receive the blessing God wants to give us, and we can't wait to tell the story we must share.

Chapel on the Hill is located at 560 Ridge Road (across from the reservoir) in Cedar Grove, New Jersey - and our Sunday morning celebration will be at 10:30 a.m.

A Continuing Celebration

Chapel on the Hill is continuing its week-by-week celebration of the Incarnation of Christ with song, drama, message, and food. On Sunday, the foyer was filled with the camaraderie of fellowship



as we ate together in our monthly "Chapelccino" coffee time (Sandra, Maria, and Dina),



and heard the strains of Christmas carols sung by Stan and Michael, with Phyllis accompanying.



When the service began, the 27-voice choir sang words that have lingered with us throughout the week:

Just to think such royalty would come the way He came,
In a dusty little town.
Born in such humility upon a bed of hay,
Certainly He laid His glory down.
Who would think this little child would be the promised One?
Certainly this was no birth place for the Son of God!
Isn’t it amazing the way He came? No crown, no throne, no big parade?
There were no fanfares played, no jubilant display.
Isn’t it amazing how He came?

Mark, David, and Nate dramatized the prophets Isaiah and Micah and the apostle John,



as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write, and the choir sang "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us."



Pastor's message followed the lyrics he led the choir in singing:

"Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade.
To write the love of God on high
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky."

He spoke on the "river of reconciliation" that flows from the Old Testament books straight through the Gospels, and how Christmas has always been in the heart of God.

It's in our hearts now, too - and we look forward to this Sunday, to another Christmas Celebration, as we gather the children of Chapel in decorating a "Crismon Tree," sing the praises of our newborn King, and then have a Christmas Dinner together.

A Celebration

At Chapel on the Hill, we have had a Christmas Eve service for many, many years. It's always been a spectacular night - with us attempting to offer our very best as gifts to the Lord in music, drama, beauty, and Christmas joy.



In the last year or two, though, we've had a harder time reaching the people we want to, due mainly to the hour. Christmas Eve around here has become a time for families to stay home. What we have is a message we want to share, not just keep to our selves. So - we adjust.

We've been planning for this for months. It usually begins some gloriously sunny summer afternoon at the family cottage on Lake Ontario - when the Pastor starts in with, "This is what I've been thinking about for Christmas," - and come fall, the choir begins their work of learning songs week after week.



The result is that this year, in lieu of one Christmas Eve night service, we will celebrate Christmas for all five Sunday mornings in December. To make it look like that special evening program, we've re-done the sanctuary to look like night-time - blocking the windows and creating the ambiance of that special night.



All day this past Saturday, we decorated. Many, many of our Chapel people were there. It was a busy place - with ladders, saws, strings of lights, wreaths, new ideas, and an ever-present pot of coffee brewing...

By afternoon, the effect was dazzling. There was Christmas in the air, as it was already in our hearts. But one moment stood out.

While some were covering windows to keep out the brightness, others wrapping strands of lights around the trees, and still others figuring out where to hang wreaths and other decorations, another family walked in to help.

Mark, Lenka, and twelve-year-old Elizabeth stood in the foyer, and as word spread that they'd arrived, one by one the workers went to them - to hug them in that strong embrace that often says more than any words can express.

Late the night before, after our Friday night Salt and Light Club where Mark played his guitar and sang, he received a phone call saying that his brother Drew, who lived a distance away, had died suddenly, leaving behind a wife and three young children. It was shocking news, and very hard to absorb. We had heard of it just that morning, and had been telling each one as they arrived.

Mark later said it made sense to not just sit home that day - that they wanted to be with their church family. And so, we all worked together - sometimes through tears, but always with love and understanding.

On Sunday morning, Mark, Lenka, Elizabeth, Mark's dad and his other brother David sat down front in church. Often there were tears - and not just when news of their loved one's death was announced at a point in the service. But they were there - with family, the family of God, receiving their support and prayers, and also demonstrating to them something Mark and Lenka had learned exactly four years before with the shocking stillbirth of their baby daughter Anna - that God is with us in our grief, and will be with us no matter what.

God with us. Sounds like Christmas.

Jesus Christ - the eternal second Person of the Godhead, as the Bible teaches - came to earth as a tiny human baby, so we could see and know - and be redeemed by - God.

He came to save us from our sins, yes. And He came to conquer death - the very death that steals families of fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, sisters and brothers.

Drew is with God - but God is with us. And that in essence is the Christmas message - that Jesus came so we could know God, and be with Him forever. Not even death can destroy that truth.

Tomorrow, one family will say goodbye to a dearly loved member. It seems an added grief to have to do that in the midst of poinsettias and little twinkling white lights. And yet - Christmas is the reminder that Jesus came, He wants to come into our hearts and lives, and He is coming again.

It's a message we will celebrate, we will share, in joy and in sadness, for all the Sundays of December, and every day of our lives.