Something eternally beautiful: No matter the observance, Christmas rings in hope for RGV

HARLINGEN — Shepherds gaze into a startling scene in the night sky where angels announce something glorious.

A man and his virgin wife pregnant with child seek a place of lodging for the night. Finding none, they spend the night in a manger with only farm animals for company.

Wise men from far away places follow a new star to visit a humble savior and bear Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Churches throughout the world are celebrating the birth of the Christ and His mission for the world. Although different churches observe this event in different ways — Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists to name a few — the first purpose of Christmas for most of these communities of faith is the birth of Christ and His message of hope.

Many churches begin their celebration of the birth of Jesus with the four weeks of Advent. Each Sunday beginning the first Sunday in December, churches light an Advent candle, and each candle has its own significance.

“Different people give the candles different meanings,” said the Rev. Nathan Wendorf who is the pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

“Some will talk about a prophecy candle, an angel candle and the like, one of them being blue, one of them being pink,” he said.

The purpose of the season of Advent and the birth of Jesus is His coming and then His second coming, Wendorf said.

“Yes, we are anticipating the celebration of Christmas,” he said. “But at the same time, we’re also anticipating Christ’s second coming and His promised return. So just as sure as we are to celebrate His birth, we are to remind ourselves that we are also getting ready for his promised return at any day as well.”

Some churches, however, do not light Advent candles or celebrate the Epiphany on Jan. 6 which commemorates the visit of the wise men.

Advent candles flicker at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Harlingen on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Travis M. Whitehead | Valley Morning Star)

“We are a non-denominational church,” said the Rev. Danny Longoria, senior pastor at Valley Praise Harlingen Campus.

Longoria has trained as a Methodist pastor and has served as a Methodist pastor. He said that personally he is a traditionalist, but Valley Praise is a non-traditional church. He and Valley Praise don’t object to the practice of traditions like the Advent candles. They’ve simply chosen not to practice those traditions at their church.

“The most important thing is the birth of Jesus Christ,” he said. “We decorate the sanctuary. We have a Christmas tree with a star on top and put some green garlands along the railings, and we are also incorporating poinsettias.”

The church’s observance of Christmas gives great comfort to its church members.

“Christmas is a season to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” said Sandra Tovar who attends Valley Praise.

“God loved us so much that He sent His only son to die for our sins,” she said. “There is no greater gift than that.

The Rev. Phillip Hoeflinger at the First Methodist Church in Harlingen agreed.

“We celebrate the season of Advent which is the preparing for Jesus’s coming,” he said. “During Advent we have an Advent wreath. There are many traditions that do this, but basically every week we light a candle the four weeks before Christmas Eve.”

Each candle, he added, gives a different representation of who Jesus was and what Jesus brought into the world, such as hope, peace, joy and love.

“On Christmas Eve we light the Christ candle to say that He has arrived,” he said.

Wendorf pointed out that many people rush to finish up Christmas on Christmas Day, but that is actually the beginning of the 12 days of Christmas. Hoeflinger elaborated on this.

“You have the famous song, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas,’” Hoeflinger said. “The 12 days of Christmas is Christmas Day and the 12 days after Christmas is basically the Christmas season. So you have Advent season before Christmas and you have the 12 days after Christmas.”

The Epiphany on Jan. 6 is the last day of the Christmas season, and it commemorates the wise men from far away visiting the baby Jesus in the manger.

“A lot of churches recognize Epiphany,” he said. “I’ve been to that many times in churches I’ve been to. We’re not doing that at our church. That is sometimes done in some Methodist churches.”

Christmas is the celebration of the beginning of something and the continuing of that something, that God became flesh for a time and wore the clothes of a commoner. He made friends, He mentored some of them to become His disciples. He visited people in their homes and had dinner with them.

He spoke of peace and charity and kindness. The scriptures tell of a place that was relatively calm, but the historical record from writers of the time, Josephus and Tacitus among others, reveal a dangerous and violent time.

All manner of political calamities were rising and crashing. It was not a safe place to be, and so Christ’s message of charity and kindness was almost an alien concept for many. And perhaps that is what made Christ and His message stand out, caused people to take notice. They were receiving a hope in a place of despair.

So it is today.

“Advent helps us remember, hey, Christ has come that we might be with Him forever,” Wendorf said. “He will return one day and we want to be ready for that.”

The hope and the reality of something eternally beautiful and the healing of a loss has meant something especially poignant to Bryan and Diana Hale, who lost their son Quentin three years ago, on Dec. 4, 2021.

“Bryan and I took yesterday off and sat in the sanctuary,” said Diana Hale. She and Bryan Hale attend First Methodist Church of Harlingen.

“We saw the Advent candles and we were comforted,” she continued. “We will see Quintin again. I can’t imagine anyone going through this grief without the hope of eternal life.”

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