Dear Church Family,

What an incredible night of worship we had on Sunday night! Thank you to Carey, Morgan, the praise team, band, and children’s choir. You all are so talented and dedicated to glorifying our Savior!

As Pastor Paul reminded us this week, this is a great time of year to give to the Great Commission Offering. He also told us about one of our church planters we supported a few years ago from Seattle, who challenged us to pray for the persecuted church whenever we see Christmas lights because his dad was one of many who were imprisoned in China for being a pastor and sharing the Gospel. His assignment was to put together Christmas lights, which were sold and shipped to America.

During the Christmas season, many in our church family are grieving from loss. We pray for them in this difficult time. I read the story of how “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was written and thought it might comfort some of you:

Few Christmas carols carry the raw honesty and hope of this one. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote it in 1863, not from a place of celebration, but from the depths of personal grief. His wife had died tragically in a fire, leaving him devastated. Then, during the Civil War, his son was severely wounded in battle. Longfellow feared he might lose him, too. Christmas arrived in the middle of that darkness, and instead of writing something sentimental, he wrote a poem that wrestled with faith in the middle of sorrow.

As church bells rang through the winter air, Longfellow listened to their message of peace on earth and goodwill to men. Yet everywhere he looked, he saw division, bloodshed, and brokenness. The poem moves through that tension. It acknowledges despair, saying that hate is strong and mocks the song of peace. But it refuses to stay there. Longfellow lets the truth break through with the ringing of the bells that remind him that God is not dead nor does He sleep, and that righteousness will one day prevail.

When the poem was later set to music, it became a carol that speaks to anyone who has ever stood in the middle of pain and wondered where hope could be found. It is not a polished, easy carol. It is a cry of faith in a world that feels fractured.

That is why it still resonates today. It tells the truth about sorrow and then lifts our eyes to a God whose promises will outlast every war and every wound.

Press On,

Mark