The world lies barren, frozen and brown; skies hang low with snow-laden clouds; the birds with their summer carols have left for warmer climates, and our hearts, too, may feel cold and empty. It is winter. And even snowbirds can't quite escape it. Tonight the temperature will be in the twenties. What is left of my garden will breathe its last until spring warms it again. My seed catalogues are coming in, but that is small comfort right now.

One of the bright spots of the season is the evergreen. Personally, I like the yews and cedars best, with their strong, sharp, earthy fragrance. Tonight, especially, we remember them, keeping their lonely vigil through the drab months of winter, like a promise - not a promise of spring, but of life continuing, evergreen.

That is what they remind us of tonight. Of life that is evergreen. Of love that never ends. When the winter closes in around us, when our hearts are chilled - there is still a love that holds us, that does not let us go. A love that is evergreen, that holds us even when we cannot hold it, when our lives are dull and dead and brown.

That, of course, is one of the reasons why Jesus came to be among us, so that, in Him, we might be able to experience that evergreen love of God, that we might be able to hold it in our hands and in our hearts, and know that it is real. It came in the form of a baby, and of a manger, and of a cross. It came in the form of a human being, resurrected from the dead. It comes to us still in the hands and voices and faces of those whom we meet in this season of Christ's coming. Tonight we celebrate the evergreen as a promise - that as we know that these trees will remain green - for that is their very nature - so it is in the nature of God to continue to fill our lives with blessings. What he has given us is just the beginning of a love that shall never end.

As we prepare ourselves this Advent season, for the coming of our Lord, let us begin by reminding ourselves why He came - out of a love that is evergreen, ever living, ever desirous of us. He calls us here, in our worship, to live for Him - but in a very real sense, He also calls us here because He lives for us - we are the strange object of His affection. So this is a time of joyful celebration, of play, a time to dance before our Father. It is enough, tonight, to bask in His love, as we would in the love of our own loving parents. It is enough to rejoice, tonight, and to celebrate a love that is entirely for us - a love that is evergreen. May His love fill you with peace and joy and hope this holiday season.