Merry Christmas! I hope that this holiday brings you much joy and togetherness. If for you the holiday is also mixed with sadness, know that God holds you in his arms regardless of how the holiday makes you feel. Your feelings are your own, they are valid, and you are deeply loved and cherished. I was touched to see some of you at the Blue Christmas service in person and on Facebook, and I hope the service brought some comfort to you as it did me. I hope to see many of you for our Christmas Eve service as well.

This week I cheated a little bit and I didn't choose an untranslatable word, really. Or even a single language. But! This is still a lexicon, so I have to have some kind of language-y thing going on, so: 'Merry Christmas' in Finnish is hyvää joulua. In Russian it's c Рождеством. In Spanish it's Feliz Navidad. German is frohe Weihnachten.

We are a week away from Christmas -- when we celebrate God sharing with us the best gift humanity could ever receive -- God coming to dwell among us in human form, so we could experience God’s love for us, and all humanity. On this day, we not only celebrate the birth of Christ, but are also reminded of the gifts of hope, love, joy and peace that Christ shares with this world. We too celebrate this season, by sharing -- recognizing what God has shared with us -- God’s self in human form.