First Congregational Church UCC Harwich

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A Different Kind of Christmas Story

November 30, 2015 by FCCH Staff

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.  My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight.  The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.  My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.  The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.  Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,  Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near.  Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight..  A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.  “What are you doing?” I asked without fear, “Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!  Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!” For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..  To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light Then he sighed and he said “It’s really all right,  I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.” “It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times.  No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.  My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,” Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.” My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam, And now it is my turn and so, here I am.  I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.”  Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue… an American flag. “I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home.  I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.  I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.  “So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.” “But isn’t there something I can do, at the least, “Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,  For being away from your wife and your son.”  Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, “Just tell us you love us, and never forget.  To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled. Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,  That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN 30th Naval Construction Regiment OIC, Logistics Cell One Al Taqqadum, Iraq

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Sunday Worship

We are an Open and Affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ.

During the health pandemic, we invite worshippers to join us on Sundays at 10:30 am. We meet in safety for a 45-minute service on our (encrypted) video-conference platform.

How to Find Us

Past Sermons

Sermon: Plan? What Plan?

December 27, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Worry, Be Happy

December 18, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Thoughts for 3 a.m.

December 11, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: The Moods of Christian Life

December 5, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Who Are We to Judge?

November 27, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Keeping One’s Marbles amid the Whistling Tree Frogs

November 20, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Interpreting the Bible

November 7, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Luther, Schmuther!

October 30, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: A Mechanistic God

October 16, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Knowing Who We Are

October 12, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: The Freedom of Constraint

October 2, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Daytime TV and Bonbons

September 25, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Mind Your Own Knitting

September 18, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Stasis, Novelty or Reform

September 11, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Decisions, Decisions

September 5, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Everyone’s Got One

August 28, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Self-Righteousness, Othering, and Violence

August 21, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Oh, This!

August 14, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: From Heel to Healer

August 8, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Unexpectedly

July 31, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Surviving Hope

July 25, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Prevenient Grace

July 17, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: The Strange Persistence of Guilt

July 11, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Freedom

July 3, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Looking for the Lord

June 26, 2017 By FCCH Staff

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