This morning my mother sent me this great picture of my stepfather, Rev. Bill Hosking, wearing the mosaic cross I gave him for Christmas. I am so pleased that he liked and looks to be enjoying it. I found the cross at the "Mennonite Strip Mall" in Souderton, at the Care and Share Variety Thrift Store. Someone gave it away, and on the back was inscribed "Made in Bethlehem." It's most likely Olive Wood, and I discovered that gifts made of Olive Wood from the Holy Land are very numerous. The wood has acquired a sacred nature, with stories about only using the pruned branches from the oldest trees in Jersualem, in the City of Bethlehem. I don't know why this cross ended up on sale, but I am glad I found it and was able to create a mosaic for Bill.
My mother also told me that the church they co-pastor, Ephraim Moravian, had a last minute Watch Night service. She put the word out on email, and it was announced on the radio and 10 people came. I had forgotten about the Watch Night service on New Year's Eve, a tradition I grew up with at Edmonton Moravian Church. The congregation would gather around 11:00 in the evening, and draw Watchwords from the Daily Text, a Moravian devotional book with Bible verses for each day along with a prayer and a hymn verse. I loved drawing out my Watchword for the year. Someone, maybe the church secretary, cut apart each verse from the Daily Text and pasted each one to an index card. Then we each took one from an offering plate. I still have the index cards packed away somewhere. There was an excitement in wondering what the verse would signify in the New Year, how it might resonate and guide my living. I have a memory that the Watch Word I randomly chose one year was the same verse as the one given to me at my confirmation at age 15, Matthew 5:16, and which still resonates in the emphasis on light, which is what animates my mosaics. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
