Moving Through the Seasons

I can truly say that I love the Christmas season. I like everything about it: the lights, the decorations, the way that the sanctuary is decorated, and even the 24-hour Christmas songs radio stations. I just like the way everything looks and smells. The Christmas season for me is a very special time of year. It has always been something that I look forward to.

However, we seem to move through the season much too quickly. We appear to be too anxious in moving on to the next season as quickly as possible. Many of the stores in the malls will be shortly placing their Valentines decorations up, and we will start seeing hearts and cupids where the Christmas trees and Holly were so shortly there. I know that for many, the day after Christmas is the day that they begin to tear down and pack away all the decorations in their homes. For my family we keep the tree up at least through New Year's Day.

It has always been a little depressing to me to come back in the church without all of the decorations hanging on the walls. It feels sometimes like we are being forced to return to our normal way of doing things way too early. We do not get enough time to really appreciate the advent season and what it truly means for us. This makes plain why, in many churches, we seem to skip over a church holiday that falls shortly after the Christmas season. This holiday is called Epiphany and this year falls during the first seven weeks of the New Year.

According to Wikipedia Epiphany is:

Epiphany,” meaning "vision of God", which falls on January 6, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ. Western Christians commemorate principally (but not solely) the visitation of the Magi to the Baby Jesus, and thus Jesus' physical manifestation to the Gentiles. Eastern Christians commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God.”

This season begins with the arrival of the three Kings and their visitation to the Christ child and goes through Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River. With Lent and Easter being so close in time this year, beginning in late February, there is also a tendency to begin to look forward to the Lenten season bypassing Epiphany altogether. However, without taking some time to study the ministry of Jesus we can miss the importance of it and how it impacts the crucifixion story.

We soon forget about the stories of the flight to Egypt, the baptism by John the Baptist, the calling of his disciples, the Sermon on the Mount, the 40 days of temptation and all of the other important stories that give us a more fuller and complete understanding of the message that Jesus was bringing from God. We should not allow, in our haste to reach the cross, these images to only flash by. We should take time to savor each as a cook takes time to savor each ingredient of the soup.

Do not be so quick to pack away all of the Christmas wrappings and decorations so soon. They are just the beginning of a wonderful message that began when Angels sang, and shepherds left their fields, and wise men traveled from afar and a star shown in the sky. For without them, without the cradle you cannot end up with the cross and everything that happened in between. Take time to savor each and every flavor that comes with the story of the ministry of Jesus. Take time to enjoy, each is a gateway to understanding how God acted and through Jesus how God wants us to act.

Don't in haste rush to the ending of the story before truly understanding the story itself. You may find that there is a whole lot of things to be found!

Praying for you as I hope that you are praying for me.

-Pastor Craig