It is the morning after Christmas. Memories of Christmas Eve worship and Christmas celebrations with family and friends still linger in the air. "A child is born to us!" At church, children in costumes retelling the sacred story. Candlelight caroling. A teenager portraying a shepherd reminding us of a God "made small enough" for us. A spirit of joy. At home, a quiet Christmas with Mark and Jessica, much different than any other I have experienced in my adult life. It was a leisurely Christmas, the celebration lasting much of the day. The making of angel biscuits for our traditional Christmas breakfast of sausage, angel biscuits, and grape jelly; the opening of gifts, one by one, so we can savor the moment, just as I have done all of my life. Calls and texts to and from family and friends, wishing each other a Merry Christmas! Snacking on meatballs, blue cheese bacon dip, and eggnog. Watching Christmas dvds. Baking dessert - spice cake with carmel icing, a favorite of Mark's and Jess'. Cooking a delicious dinner of beef brisket, mashed potatoes, stuffing, roasted carrots and brussel sprouts. The first Christmas in memory that we did not eat turkey/ham. I didn't know if I would like the change, but I did! I think it's a new tradition! Christmas Day wound down with the three of us together. Our day ended with Mark driving our daughter to the Amtrak station so she could return to Manhattan, her home. It was one of the most enjoyable and joyfilled Christmases I have ever experienced!
The thing about Christmas is that there's got to be a morning after! For some people, like our daughter, this means returning to work as usual! Others are hustling and bustling around town on this day known as the biggest return and exchange day of the year to take back gifts. Others are spending the day taking down Christmas decorations, making sure that, by the end of the day, there will be no sign of Christmas 2011.
I have always enjoyed the morning after Christmas. Christmas, and all the celebrations of it, are still dancing in my head! It is a day of quiet reflection, a warm, fuzzy day, as I think of a God made small enough for me. Small enough for me to wrap my heart and head around. How amazing is that?
Later today our close friends are coming to visit and our celebration of Christmas will continue. In fact, we have 12 days in which to enjoy Christmas with family and friends; to look for the ways in which the Word made flesh is transforming us.
There's got to be a morning after Christmas! Relish it! Enjoy the new possibilities it brings!
Monday, December 26, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
How Silently, How Silently
I'm up early this morning. Somehow can't sleep as images of Christmas dance in my head! It's the time in the season when I am pulling together all the details for church and home and, with heavenly help, hopefully remembering all I need to remember.
Interestingly enough, as I am piecing together in my mind the rehearsal for Christmas Eve that will take place later this morning, and, at the same time, going over my gift list to make certain that I have not forgotten any "special someones," a line from "O Little Town of Bethlehem" keeps playing in my head: "How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!" As Pastor Phillip Brooks penned these words, was he experiencing the same Christmas "anxiety" that I am experiencing? Was he concerned that the details of Christmas for worship and home would be so loud that he, that we, might miss God's Christmas present?
"How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!" In the midst of bombs blaring, soldiers and civilians dying, soldiers returning home, politicians posturing and losing sight of the human beings they are serving, a weakened global economy, unresolved health care concerns, churches struggling for life, God gives us the most amazing Christmas gift: One who restores the world to wholeness, the Prince of Peace!
How is it that we fail to receive it? Is the packaging too subtle? Should it have been wrapped in elegant paper and tied up with a gorgeous bow? Or in bright reds or greens with a candy cane adorning it? Are swaddling clothes too passe, too out of our experience, for us to even recognize the gift? Is God's gift, the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, doomed to be relegated to the nativity scene we have set up in our church or home?
"How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!" These words won't let me go! As I finish up coordinating the details for Christmas in church and home, I sense they will be with me, reminding me, calling me, to have "eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive" God's Christmas present to me, to you, to the world:
"For unto us is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!"
What we do with the gift, once we receive it, is up to us. I'm hoping that I, that we, will unwrap the gift in 2012 and do with it something significant for the transformation of a world. I'm hoping that I, that we, do not leave it gathering dust on the shelf like that candy dish shaped like a chicken Mark and I received for our wedding almost 30 years ago, not wanting to get rid of it because someone went to the trouble of giving it to us; but never quite comfortable enough with it to use it. I'm hoping that we use it to make a difference in our homes, our city, our community, our nation, and our world.
For unto us is born!
Interestingly enough, as I am piecing together in my mind the rehearsal for Christmas Eve that will take place later this morning, and, at the same time, going over my gift list to make certain that I have not forgotten any "special someones," a line from "O Little Town of Bethlehem" keeps playing in my head: "How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!" As Pastor Phillip Brooks penned these words, was he experiencing the same Christmas "anxiety" that I am experiencing? Was he concerned that the details of Christmas for worship and home would be so loud that he, that we, might miss God's Christmas present?
"How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!" In the midst of bombs blaring, soldiers and civilians dying, soldiers returning home, politicians posturing and losing sight of the human beings they are serving, a weakened global economy, unresolved health care concerns, churches struggling for life, God gives us the most amazing Christmas gift: One who restores the world to wholeness, the Prince of Peace!
How is it that we fail to receive it? Is the packaging too subtle? Should it have been wrapped in elegant paper and tied up with a gorgeous bow? Or in bright reds or greens with a candy cane adorning it? Are swaddling clothes too passe, too out of our experience, for us to even recognize the gift? Is God's gift, the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, doomed to be relegated to the nativity scene we have set up in our church or home?
"How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!" These words won't let me go! As I finish up coordinating the details for Christmas in church and home, I sense they will be with me, reminding me, calling me, to have "eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive" God's Christmas present to me, to you, to the world:
"For unto us is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!"
What we do with the gift, once we receive it, is up to us. I'm hoping that I, that we, will unwrap the gift in 2012 and do with it something significant for the transformation of a world. I'm hoping that I, that we, do not leave it gathering dust on the shelf like that candy dish shaped like a chicken Mark and I received for our wedding almost 30 years ago, not wanting to get rid of it because someone went to the trouble of giving it to us; but never quite comfortable enough with it to use it. I'm hoping that we use it to make a difference in our homes, our city, our community, our nation, and our world.
For unto us is born!
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