2017 Worship Guide

2017 WORSHIP GUIDE Wednesday, December 6, 2017 LINCOLN DAILY NEWS PUBLICATION Page 15 people may have felt after Jesus was born. The high expectations they had were dashed. How could a tiny infant, born in such crude surroundings, ever be the one who would save the world? More than anyone, they had to practice patience and needed to reframe their expectations. What they had anticipated would happen, just not as fast as they hoped for or desired. One of my favorite quotes that I often think of this time of year is from Anne Lamott. She says, “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” As we move into this time of preparing for Christmas, what expectations do you have? What are those things for which you hope and watch and work? I pray that our waiting might be an active waiting, filled with purpose. A purpose which connects us more fully with the gift of our Savior given in the manger that night long ago; helping us to together show up and try to do the right thing, trusting that the dawn will indeed come. Especially as scripture reminds us, “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:78-79). Blessings to you and your families this Advent and as we celebrate once more the joy of our Savior’s birth! Pastor Candida Turner Immanuel Lutheran Church