Well, today is the twelfth day of our Christmas season. New Year’s is behind us … The Feast of the Epiphany is tomorrow … January 6 … but this time between Christmas Day and Epiphany is the Church’s liturgical Christmas season. The world would have us believe otherwise … most of the Christmas decorations in stores are already gone in those post-Christmas sales. And some decoration certainly look like they need to be put away … just look at the wreaths turning brown here in our sanctuary. That is what happens when you have Christmas Day on a Wednesday and our liturgical season stretches through two Sundays. I was in Target yesterday and they have already put out the Valentine candy displays!
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Well, today is the twelfth day of our Christmas season. New Year’s is behind us … The Feast of the Epiphany is tomorrow … January 6 … but this time between Christmas Day and Epiphany is the Church’s liturgical Christmas season. The world would have us believe otherwise … most of the Christmas decorations in stores are already gone in those post-Christmas sales. And some decoration certainly look like they need to be put away … just look at the wreaths turning brown here in our sanctuary. That is what happens when you have Christmas Day on a Wednesday and our liturgical season stretches through two Sundays. I was in Target yesterday and they have already put out the Valentine candy displays!
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I hope all of you had a blessed Christmas Day. I hope that if any of you traveled, or your families and friends traveled, that you were safe. And, I hope that you are well rested and ready to face the week ahead … and that you will welcome the New Year with a spirit of wonderment. Printer-Friendly Version
Every Christmas we hear these same lessons from Isaiah, Titus, and the Gospel of Luke. Most of us grew up hearing the story of the birth of Jesus read to us as children, and we saw depictions of the story in art, and holiday cards and manger scenes on our mantles. The stable with the animals, the angels and the shepherds, the stars in the heaven. And we sang songs that told us how peaceful and serene the event was. The story of the birth of Jesus is so very familiar to us that we sometimes have a tendency to not listen as closely to the story as we would if we were hearing it for the first time. Printer-Friendly Version
This is the season for Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and Nativity scenes. Nativity scenes with the baby Jesus in a manger surrounded by Mary and Joseph, shepherds, angels, cows, donkeys, and sheep, and the Three Wise Men. Printer-Friendly Version
Throughout this Advent season we have been hearing about the yearnings of God’s people. In the readings from the prophet Isaiah, from the Psalms, from the letters of Paul, and from our Gospel readings from Matthew. And, on this Third Sunday of Advent, we recited the Song of Mary … the Magnificat. |
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