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Christmas on Duty

By Karen C. Rydwansky

Karen Rydwansky is the senior pastor of Crossroads Worship Center in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Recently we caught up with her to see how she deals with the unique stresses Christmas can have on a new church plant.

This is my first Christmas as a new church planter. I feel a little like Mary giving birth in a stable. We have no home and our services are in an old school gym. The smell is not hay and dung, but sweaty shoes and moldy socks. It’s “set up and break down” every Sunday which does not allow any opportunity to decorate with the traditional trappings of Christmas. It has kept me awake at night with thoughts of how disappointing this may be for our people. After all, we are used to trees and lights, ribbons and bows, soft candlelight and grand pageants. But God has called us to leave all that behind and follow Him and so we are in a manger. But Jesus is there: Emmanuel, God with us!

Our focus has to be about the One who came into that manger and changed the world. It has to be about the ones who are sitting in the cold waiting for a revelation of Hope and Joy. It has to be about Jesus who has come to bring peace and who has broken the back of the evil one so that we can be truly free to celebrate Christmas.

And so this year we are planning simple celebrations in our home, knowing that an open door—and an open heart—are really what Christmas is all about.

O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

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