SERMON SNEAK PEEK In some traditions (Roman Catholic and Episcopal, for instance) there are services on Christmas day, December 25th, to celebrate the birth of Christ. Most churches dont follow this practice, of course, unless December 25th happens to fall on a Sunday. Either way, attendance on Christmas day tends to be sparse in the western world. We are not among those who worship on Christmas day, calling the Christmas Eve service a good enough time to sing Joy to the world, the Lord is come, as if the day marking his birth was actually the 24th. Truth told, the church universal pretty much wraps it up on Christmas Eve. Im not advocating that we start Christmas day services, but I am of the opinion that we are much the poorer for failing to stress that Christmas is not a day but a season of the church year. A short season, to be sure-just 12 days-but still a season. This is where the old English Christmas carol we all know and endure, The Twelve Days of Christmas, comes from- On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree, etc., etc. The demise of Christmas as a season can be blamed on many things, among them the tales of Ebenezer Scrooge and Santa Claus, with their emphasis on gift giving, the shopping mania of our economic calendar, beginning around Thanksgiving and not ending until the after Christmas sales are unleashed on December 26th, and the popularity of New Years Eve parties. Oh, well. This Sunday John 1:1-18 will be the sermons text and The Eleventh Day of Christmas its title. The John text is a traditional one the lectionary most always suggests for the first Sunday of the year. Read it and see if you can figure out why. And remember: Only those who show up this Sunday can have perfect attendance for 2015. - Bill
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 18:30:11 +0000
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