Christmas Eve- the Super Bowl or Daytona Race for Preachers!

Finally the big day is here!  For us preachers tonight is like the Super Bowl for NFL fans or the Daytona Race for NASCAR fans.  That is how huge this evening is.

My preacher heart has been dreaming and waiting.  Waiting and dreaming of this night for decades.

My ministry appointments have had me serve two large congregations where I was an associate on a staff.  That meant that I have not in my eighteen-almost-nineteen-years of ministry preached on Christmas Eve.  My senior pastors have always preached this night.

This is not to say that I have not had meaningful ministry; I have.  Nor is this to say I have not helped and aided in making the holiness of tonight come alive for many; I have with great joy shared in the ministry of Christmas Eve.  Preaching is the only aspect of tonight's service that I have not yet done.

That tradition ends tonight!  Thanks be to God!

All this build up and anticipation, I hope, means the Spirit has something special to deliver through me this evening!  My sermon prep showed that I had too much material and kept having to edit down, and down, and down.  (A sign of the situation, no doubt!)

May the Christmas angels use me tonight!  And may our worship of the Babe of Bethlehem be joyous!