The Twelfth Day of Christmas
05/01/15 04:44
We have had a marvelous celebration of Christmas this year. It has been a wonderful season of celebrations within our family. We began, of course, as we always do, with worship and the celebrations of our church family. Then, we had a week of celebrating with our family. Our daughter and son-in-law hosted as we gathered in their home. Our son and his family flew in from Olympia, Washington so we had grandchildren and all of the fun of a great family gathering. Of course there were special dinners, a visit to Legoland and the aquarium in Kansas City, a special trip to a shopping center with a Build a Bear franchise for some treats for the children, late night games, and plenty of story telling and catching up.
One of the joys in my life is that I have somehow, without any particular talent or effort on my part, become the patriarch of a marvelous family. Our children have become adults with wonderful gifts of hospitality, great generosity of spirit, and delightful and interesting careers. I got to play hide and seek with my grandson one moment, talk about corporate ethics with my son, hear about the latest in aviation technology from my son in law, play a silly card game, hug my daughter, and rock the baby to sleep - and all of that was just the first evening.
Each time we sat together at the table, we went around the table so that each person could say the things for which they were grateful. There were thanks for each other, thanks for the ability to travel so freely, thanks for presents given and received, thanks for the weather that was mostly cooperative, thanks for the good food, thanks for good jobs, and many other things. Indeed we have so much for which to be grateful.
Our son and his family arrived safely at their home last evening and we are about half way home and have an easy drive on reasonable roads for today. The worst roads we encountered in the entire trip were icy conditions with a lot of accidents and very slow traffic through the Kansas City area yesterday while driving to the airport. But we had allowed enough time for the delay and got through all of that without too much problem.
The twelfth day of Christmas is a day of transition for us and a day of transition for all Christians. Tomorrow we will be back at work with a huge workload that has accumulated in our absence and the regular business of a very lively church. We have a newsletter to get out, a budget to finalize, annual reports to publish, meetings to attend, pastoral concerns in need of response and a lot more. It will be a very busy week with a few long days.
Like our personal transition, the church undergoes a very important transition on Epiphany as well. For the season of Christmas we have focused internally. We have celebrated the gift of the Christ child, contemplated the wonder of the incarnation, read the traditional stories and sung familiar carols. We have celebrated with worship that was comfortable and familiar and for many had a sense of homecoming. Tomorrow and Wednesday we celebrate of Epiphany and remember the visit of wise men from the East. The wise men were from outside of our faith family. The first visitors to the Christ child were Jews - all children of Israel and of a similar faith heritage. Now people from a far distant country - and a different religion came to the child. Remembering their visit is a reminder to the church that the message of Christ and the joys of our faith are not to be kept to ourselves.
Our primary responsibility is outreach to others.
We exist for the purpose of taking the good news we celebrate at Christmas to those who have the deepest need. It is always true that we communicate more with our presence and our actions than with our words. The evangelism to which we are called has less to do with having the right words to say and more to do with actions of love and service for others.
During the season of Epiphany we take a whirlwind tour of Jesus life and ministry by reading portions of the gospels. This year our primary focus is Mark, whose rapid pace and almost breathless telling of Jesus’ ministry lends a sense of urgency to our reading. The season and the reminders of our shared story lead us to recall all of the places we are called to serve.
In our congregation it is time to touch base with all of our firewood partners. We have had a fair bit of cold weather and we need to make sure that everyone has a sufficient supply of firewood. We’ll be making some deliveries to our partners in the next few weeks. It is also time to remember our special sister church relationship with the Community Christian Church of los Guido in Costa Rica. Preparations are underway for Vacation Bible School there and soon we will be commissioning our mission partners who will travel to Costa Rica to share in that important week of teaching, learning and community outreach. Our annual meeting provides our congregation with the opportunity to examine our priorities and set a budget to support the many different outreach programs and ministries of the church. This annual meeting will be our 136th. We have a rich history to celebrate and we are reminded by our look back that our church has always been in the business of serving our community. There are many other organizations in our community who are worthy of our support, both financial and volunteer.
As wonderful as is the season of Christmas celebration, it is only a prelude to a year of dedication, service, hard work and outreach.
Today one season ends and another begins. We are ready. We have been renewed and restored by Christmas. It is time to share the light of Christ with the whole world.
One of the joys in my life is that I have somehow, without any particular talent or effort on my part, become the patriarch of a marvelous family. Our children have become adults with wonderful gifts of hospitality, great generosity of spirit, and delightful and interesting careers. I got to play hide and seek with my grandson one moment, talk about corporate ethics with my son, hear about the latest in aviation technology from my son in law, play a silly card game, hug my daughter, and rock the baby to sleep - and all of that was just the first evening.
Each time we sat together at the table, we went around the table so that each person could say the things for which they were grateful. There were thanks for each other, thanks for the ability to travel so freely, thanks for presents given and received, thanks for the weather that was mostly cooperative, thanks for the good food, thanks for good jobs, and many other things. Indeed we have so much for which to be grateful.
Our son and his family arrived safely at their home last evening and we are about half way home and have an easy drive on reasonable roads for today. The worst roads we encountered in the entire trip were icy conditions with a lot of accidents and very slow traffic through the Kansas City area yesterday while driving to the airport. But we had allowed enough time for the delay and got through all of that without too much problem.
The twelfth day of Christmas is a day of transition for us and a day of transition for all Christians. Tomorrow we will be back at work with a huge workload that has accumulated in our absence and the regular business of a very lively church. We have a newsletter to get out, a budget to finalize, annual reports to publish, meetings to attend, pastoral concerns in need of response and a lot more. It will be a very busy week with a few long days.
Like our personal transition, the church undergoes a very important transition on Epiphany as well. For the season of Christmas we have focused internally. We have celebrated the gift of the Christ child, contemplated the wonder of the incarnation, read the traditional stories and sung familiar carols. We have celebrated with worship that was comfortable and familiar and for many had a sense of homecoming. Tomorrow and Wednesday we celebrate of Epiphany and remember the visit of wise men from the East. The wise men were from outside of our faith family. The first visitors to the Christ child were Jews - all children of Israel and of a similar faith heritage. Now people from a far distant country - and a different religion came to the child. Remembering their visit is a reminder to the church that the message of Christ and the joys of our faith are not to be kept to ourselves.
Our primary responsibility is outreach to others.
We exist for the purpose of taking the good news we celebrate at Christmas to those who have the deepest need. It is always true that we communicate more with our presence and our actions than with our words. The evangelism to which we are called has less to do with having the right words to say and more to do with actions of love and service for others.
During the season of Epiphany we take a whirlwind tour of Jesus life and ministry by reading portions of the gospels. This year our primary focus is Mark, whose rapid pace and almost breathless telling of Jesus’ ministry lends a sense of urgency to our reading. The season and the reminders of our shared story lead us to recall all of the places we are called to serve.
In our congregation it is time to touch base with all of our firewood partners. We have had a fair bit of cold weather and we need to make sure that everyone has a sufficient supply of firewood. We’ll be making some deliveries to our partners in the next few weeks. It is also time to remember our special sister church relationship with the Community Christian Church of los Guido in Costa Rica. Preparations are underway for Vacation Bible School there and soon we will be commissioning our mission partners who will travel to Costa Rica to share in that important week of teaching, learning and community outreach. Our annual meeting provides our congregation with the opportunity to examine our priorities and set a budget to support the many different outreach programs and ministries of the church. This annual meeting will be our 136th. We have a rich history to celebrate and we are reminded by our look back that our church has always been in the business of serving our community. There are many other organizations in our community who are worthy of our support, both financial and volunteer.
As wonderful as is the season of Christmas celebration, it is only a prelude to a year of dedication, service, hard work and outreach.
Today one season ends and another begins. We are ready. We have been renewed and restored by Christmas. It is time to share the light of Christ with the whole world.