12.24.2025 | Fourth Wednesday in Advent

​Reflection on Faith, Hope and Love
 
We have just come inside after a quick tour of the garden with the Doodle girl. The morning is cloudy and dark, yet the coffee is poured, and our tradition continues: listening to the BBC broadcast of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge. For more than forty years, this has been our Christmas Eve ritual, and this year it feels more poignant than ever.
 
The service itself was born out of longing for renewal. After World War I, peace had finally come to Europe, and the new Dean of King’s College, himself a decorated chaplain who had witnessed the horrors, introduced this program to bring forth faith, hope, and love for those returning from war.
As we sit and listen to the soaring music and gentle readings of scripture—from the fall in Genesis to John’s Gospel proclaiming, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”—we are reminded that the light is coming. Renewal awaits.
 
Yet the truth is we are not waiting. The Word is here, now. Ready for our acceptance, ready for our embrace. On this Eve of Christmas, we are given a gift: the gift of Love. An unimaginable gift of forgiveness, hope, and grace. All we need is a bit of faith.
 
The little Doodle girl rests quietly beneath the Christmas tree on this gray morning. We, too, are ready for renewal. We listen, we pray, we remember, and we welcome the truest spirit of this holy season.
 
O come, O come, Emmanuel.
Renew in us a spirit of faith, hope, and most of all love.
Let love break through the darkness.
Let love break through the chaos.
Let love break through, we pray.
 
Merry Christmas.