Dinner, a gingerbread competition, and campfire carols. ⁠That’s how Church of the Wilderness, Durham, the synod’s newest mission start,  celebrated Christmas this year.⁠
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Pastor Meghan Richter, says that at each gathering this community uses poems for their benedictions. On Christmas, the benediction came from Edmund Sears’ “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.” (1849).⁠
⁠
And you, beneath life’s crushing load,⁠
whose forms⁠
are bending low,⁠
who toil along the climbing way⁠
with painful steps and slow:⁠
look now,⁠
for glad and golden hours⁠
come swiftly on the wing;⁠
oh, rest beside the weary road⁠
and hear the angels sing.⁠

For lo! the days are hastening on,⁠
by prophets seen of old,⁠
when with the ever circling years⁠
shall come the time foretold,⁠
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,⁠
and all the world give back the song⁠
which now the angels sing.

Enjoy pictures of their community celebration below!
(Their benediction poem for the New Year is also shown below.)