Mid-Week Thoughts

Happy Epiphany, my friends!

January 6th is Epiphany, the celebration of the God's revelation to the Gentiles (non-Jews). It also marks the official end of the season of Christmas, which begins on December 25th and lasts for twelve days (hence the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas"). If you ever grow jealous of our Jewish brother and sisters, who get presents each night for the eight nights of Hanukkah, you can consider reviving the old tradition of giving a series of increasingly grand presents each of the twelve days of Christmas, ending with a feast for friends on January 5th, Twelfth Night, the high point of the season.

The customs above come from the rich English Christmas tradition, which seems foreign to most of us (Who is this Father Christmas, anyway?). Most of our beloved American Christmas traditions actually come from Dutch and German settlers to the colonies. They brought us Santa Claus (aka Sinterklaas) and the Christmas Tree. Other countries have yet other ways to announce and embrace the baby born in Bethlehem. I encourage you to learn a bit about how the rest of the world--now and through history--worships The Child. You might discover some traditions you want to make your own. (As you can tell from the preceding paragraphs, Wikipedia is your friend.)

So, no matter how you cut it, Christmas is finally over. Now we must ask ourselves the question, "How am I to live?" How are we to live in a world into which God has chosen to be born? The birth of Jesus is (not was) an event of cosmic significance. If it doesn't change our lives, then perhaps we weren't paying attention, caught up in our own stuff as we often are.

Today I had the pleasure (with Blair and Marcia) of taking a cart-load full of donated food to one of our area food pantries. There we got to speak for a while with the people who get that food into the hands of needy families. It's something I wish we could all do, because it connects our generosity with the need in the world.

Today I felt a bit like one of the Magi (in fact, there were three of us!), taking gifts fit for a king. Instead of gold, frankincense and myrrh we took Ramen Noodles and Jelly, gifts fitting for the king who lifts up the lowly, the poor and the hungry. Today is Epiphany, when we celebrate the arrival of the Magi, who brought their gifts before the King of the World.

Blessings to you all...

Pastor Michael