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Dear saints,
Merry Christmas! I hope that wherever you were this Christmas Eve you were able to enjoy the beauty and wonder of this holy time of year. All Saints' was spectacularly adorned with flowers and song as we told the old, old story of the God whose love comes to find us all. What a gift.
It has always struck me as something of a shame that while the world around us is seemingly keen to begin celebrating Christmas sometime in October, as soon as Christmas Day is over, the tree is on the sidewalk and we're on to New Year's resolutions. I love that as a western Christian, the eastern traditions give us a second pass, celebrating the Feast of the Incarnation on January 6th. Take your time, I hear them say. My own family adamantly keeps on watering the tree and eating our way through mounds of super-calorific foods right up to twelfth night. I might even ask Alexa to raise the volume on "Carols from Kings" now and again, just to remind the neighbors of some of that "Joy to the World" we still have to share. For my own part, I cannot imagine doing anything else. Twelve days is hardly enough for the magnitude of it all to sink in. God is with us.
God is with you, and God is with the Syrians who this coming year will begin to piece back together the fragments of their lives in what we all must pray is a free country. God is with the people of Magdeburg, Germany, as they try to come to terms with the surreal and awful terror a single driver visited upon hundreds. God is with those who dwell in dark places across this world, and we would be forgiven for wondering if being with us is enough in the face of a world such as this. Yet, God is also with us in the acts of countless people who opt for goodness and kindness and spendthrift generosity within that world. That kind of love cannot be defeated; that kind of light never goes out.
So, yes, dear saints, hang on to those decorations and twinkling lights, perhaps the folks around you still need a sign that we are not alone.
"Hark! The herald angels sing, 'Glory to the newborn king.'"
Grace and peace to you this Christmas time,
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