{"id":8044,"date":"2022-12-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/a-gospel-light-in-the-usa\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T17:13:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T17:13:46","slug":"gospel-light-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/gospel-light-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"A gospel light in the USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Christmas around the world<\/h2>\n<p>Every year on 24 December, my family goes to the Christmas Eve service at Park View Mennonite Church (Harrisonburg, Virginia). It\u2019s a traditional \u2018lessons and carols\u2019 service, where we read the Christmas Story from Luke and sing accompanying hymns as we work our way through the text.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The whole service is enjoyable, but the most meaningful piece is at the end. Small candles (hidden in the storage closet all year) are passed out and lit as we sing \u201cSilent Night.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Watching the flame \u2013 which first comes from the Christ candle at the front of the room \u2013 spread from hand to hand, row to row always moves me. This practice of celebrating the light of Jesus coming into the world is a beautiful reminder that though Jesus is the source of light for all, we cannot carry that light alone, nor do we receive it directly from God: we receive it from one another and we are tasked to share the light of good news with those around us.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it\u201d (John 1:5).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is the good news of Christmas to me.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<em>Caleb Schrock-Horst is a member of Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas around the world Every year on 24 December, my family goes to the Christmas Eve service at Park View Mennonite Church (Harrisonburg, Virginia). It\u2019s a traditional \u2018lessons and carols\u2019 service, where we read the Christmas Story from Luke and sing accompanying hymns as we work our way through the text.&nbsp; The whole service is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"network":[178],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-8044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","network-young-anabaptists"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A gospel light in the USA - Mennonite World Conference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/gospel-light-usa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A gospel light in the USA - Mennonite World Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas around the world Every year on 24 December, my family goes to the Christmas Eve service at Park View Mennonite Church (Harrisonburg, Virginia). 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