Daily Devotional for Small Group Discussion: C and Es

by John Edgerton | published on Dec 23, 2024

Discussion Questions 

  1. Read Luke 1:39-56. Then read the devotional below, “C and Es.” 
  1. Are you familiar with the phenomenon of “C and Es,” that is, people who come to church only for Christmas and Easter worship services? 
  1. How does your faith community welcome infrequent worshipers?  
  1. What seeds of faith were planted in you when you were young? 

“[God] has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. [God] has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich empty away.” – Luke 1:52-53 (NIV) 

My clearest memories of church growing up are Christmas Eve services. I didn’t know a lot of hymns, but I knew the carols. I didn’t have a regular practice of generosity, but I knew enough to give what I could to the food and toy drive. I didn’t know much scripture, but I recognized these lines from the Magnificat. 

To me, they summed up the Christian message. God had chosen the lowly and rejected the haughty. God had favored the hungry and rebuked the well-to-do. It made me wonder where I fit in with God’s new order of things. Was I among the rich? Was I among the haughty? How could I be part of what God was doing, rather than stand against it? It troubled me, turned me over in the way that soil is turned over in preparation for planting seeds. 

I left church with the resolve to somehow, someway live that out that radical overturning year-round. And, perhaps, I managed it for a while. Then I turned up for Christmas again the next year and was troubled anew, turned over anew. I didn’t become active in church until adulthood, but the seed of my faith was planted in Christmas Eve services. 

I know it can be a lot to put on a big, boisterous Christmas service. And it can seem like not a lot of “bang for your buck” for the folks who only come once a year. But, then again, planting is always an awful lot of work, isn’t it? 

Prayer
God, may your spirit grow in those we barely know.

John EdgertonAbout the Author
Rev. John Edgerton is Senior Minister and CEO of Old South Church in Boston. He is the 21st Senior minister in the congregation’s over 350 year history.