Pause - Christmas at Radiant

Life can be chaotic sometimes. It’s hard. It’s full and busy.

The kids have school and practices and games and rehearsals. We have work and small group and volunteering for school activities. We look at your calendars and there is something on every single day of the week. We’re running around, trying to keep everything and everyone together.

And now, it’s Christmas. The month of December can feel like it’s never-ending. And if we’re honest, some of us dread the Christmas season because it means that there’s even more events on the calendar than before. More family gatherings, more parties, more school plays. There is a lot to do.

It feels like we just need to hit the pause button on life to truly remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. So that is what we are going to do as a church. We are going to pause.

“It’s okay to be full. God intends your life to be full. He’s called you to do a lot,” said Pastor Nate. “But how gracious is it that in the fullness of our lives and this season, as a church, God has given us time to just pause. How cool that we can take three Sundays as a church, and we can pause together.”

In some sense, what we’re doing this Christmas is no different than what we do every single week. For a couple of hours each Sunday morning, no matter what the past week looked like, our busy lives pause, and we get to gather together to focus our attention on the One who graciously gave His life so that we can live abundant lives for His glory. It’s already a part of our weekly rhythm.

“Each Sunday, when we choose to come to church to worship the Lord instead of the other things we could be doing, it’s an act of faith. It’s a moment to say, ‘Lord, I’m choosing to leave everything in Your capable hands when I pause to be with my church and with You together,’” shared Pastor Nate.

Pausing together as a church for three Sundays this Christmas will allow us to lean into the reconciliation, relationship and rest that are found in and through Jesus Christ.

With the busyness of the Christmas season, we want to pause as a church to remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us for a purpose – so that He might reconcile us to God by grace through faith. In light of God with us, we get to be with Him. We’re going to spend time with the Lord together as a faith family in worship, prayer, Communion and Scripture reading on Christmas Eve. And finally, on December 31, we are going to take a Sabbath Sunday to completely pause and rest.

“On the seventh day, God rested. But he didn’t stop working,” explained Pastor Nate. “He was still upholding the universe by the word of His power on that day. So, what was He doing? He was beholding. He stopped in that moment to behold the goodness of all that He did. So for us, we want to take a hard pause for 1.5 hours to slow down to a point to behold the goodness of God.”

Sabbath Sunday will be a time for us to completely pause. We will be ceasing from our typical rhythm to delight in the Lord uniquely as a church family.

“Don’t fill the hour and a half where you’d normally be at church with something to be busy. Enjoy your cup of coffee without running out the door. Lean into this time to consider Christ, behold Him and rest,” encouraged Pastor Nate. “Our hope is that this time of pausing together as a church will draw us nearer to our Savior.”

Click the button below for a Spotify playlist of worshipful songs to help you see and delight in the Savior’s work and worth this Christmas season.