January 2022

When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with the flocks, then the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal those broken in spirit, to feed the hungry, to release the oppressed, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among all peoples, to make a little music with the heart…And to radiate the Light of Christ, every day, in every way, in all that we do and in all that we say. Then the work of Christmas begins.                                               

– Howard Thurman

Here we are at the beginning of another new year, having once again come through an Advent season of preparation. But Christmas is not over: we celebrate the Epiphany through the first week of this new year, a reminder that the light of the star and the promises of God did not disappear once the shepherds found the babe lying in the manager, wrapped in swaddling clothes. A dangerous journey still lay before the holy family, as they fled the vengeance of Herod, away into Egypt.

We too have a journey before us, hopefully less fraught than theirs. As we wander into this new year, we are tasked with keeping the spirit of Christmas alive as the days begin to drop from the calendar like leaves from an Autumn tree. It seems easy now: perhaps you still have a present or two beneath the tree that have not yet found their recipients, Christmas lights are still shining in the night. But soon, the tree will be taken down, the lights put away for another year. And we will return to our “real lives,” leaving behind the messages of Hope and Peace, Joy and Love.

As the (Baptist) theologian and pastor Howard Thurman reminds us: we are to radiate the Light of Christ, every day, in every way, in all that we do and in all that we say. Then the work of Christmas begins. This new year, Christmas is beginning. With each new day, week, and month, we are invited and challenged to continue the work that began in that lowly stable so many years ago. We are called to see our neighbors as ourselves, to see their needs as our own. We are called to make peace and to resist injustice. We are called to live out the truth of our weekly prayer: Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

-Pastor Jon