Week of 2 Advent, Saturday

Love grown cold? No way!

Last night was TeleTracking's annual holiday party, a tradition that brings the far-flung implementation and sales teams back to Pittsburgh (often with their spouses) to enjoy an evening of celebration with our colleagues who are based in Pittsburgh.

It's a great party, and it gets bigger every year, not just because TeleTracking is a strong and growing company, but because this year, in a very difficult economy, we acquired two other software companies. It was a real treat to welcome employees from those companies into our tradition.

The church I used to serve in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin hosts a Community Meal every Saturday evening. Local churches take turns serving the meal, but it is always held at Holy Communion. Several years ago, we had an Advent play performed at the Saturday evening Eucharist, followed by a reception, which gradually flowed into the Community Meal. The folks coming for their meal joined a party already in progress.

Since then, that has been my image for the church at its best -- we invite people to join a party already in progress, and by our joy and delight in each other they come to know the Lord we worship.

It doesn't always happen that way, of course. Sometimes we need to hear the rebuke that Christ delivers in Revelation to those whose "have the name of being alive, but ... are dead" (Rev. 3:1). Sometimes our love grows cold, and our welcome lackluster.

Last night at our company party, however, we were at our best and brightest. Our CEO thanked us for both our knowledge and our heart, our new colleagues joined us on the dance floor, and the party was in full swing!

We were blessings to each other last night. May we reach out to be blessings to those we serve in the year to come.