11A Worship

We are living in the waning moments of another year. The “holiday season” is quickly drawing to a close. The rush of preparation has culminated in a few hours of “quality time” (hopefully!) spent with friends and family. The gifts have been opened, the food and leftovers have been devoured; and for some, the house has been returned to order.

It seems like we put so much energy in getting to our destination - destination Christmas day - carefully planning and preparing, waiting and longing all throughout Advent - that we forget to think about what happens when we arrive. What happens when we’ve made it to Christmas Day, and we celebrate Jesus being born into our hearts and lives and world once again. We’re here! Now what?

Sometimes, I think we rush away from Christmas - the true Christmas - too quickly. We’re too good at cleaning up after Christmas and quite possibly run the risk of seeing its meaning fade in the rear-view mirror as we speed away. Or we run the risk of removing it from our lives - at least for a year. What if, after Christmas, we could keep the wonder and joy and meaning of Jesus’ coming to us and take it with us throughout 2025?

This Sunday we will look at the story of the Magi, the wise men from the east who came searching for Jesus and how they kept it in their hearts. And we will look at Joseph and Mary and Jesus and their escape to Egypt.