January 04th, 2022

Earlier today (January 3rd) when I was at my local Safeway doing some grocery shopping, I discovered that all the products in the seasonal aisle have already been flipped. Any signs of Christmas or New Year’s Day have vanished and the shelves are now stocked with pink, red and white candy and gifts for Valentine’s Day, which will be here soon enough.
In the church, the season of Christmas actually begins on Christmas Eve and continues on for twelve days until Epiphany. On Epiphany, we celebrate Jesus being made known “to the whole world as symbolized locally by King Herod, geographically by the visiting magi, and cosmically by the star.”  (Keeping Time: The Church’s Year, page 82) Epiphany traditionally falls on January 6. This year we will be celebrating Epiphany on the following Sunday, January 9 with a special performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors by the CLC Choir.
The story of the magi, coming to the halls of power in Jerusalem searching for the new-born king only to find him in the little town of Bethlehem is worth pondering. Often we search for blessings in the big things and events, and certainly big things and events can contain blessings - the birth of a baby, a wedding, the end of a war just to name a few. But when the news cycle is dominated by negative stories as it has been these past two years, it is easy to overlook the fact that grace still abounds.
At the last meeting I had with my spiritual director, she challenged me to spend some time this Christmas season “considering the graces” that I’ve experienced in my life this past year. And she was right. Among all the sadness and heaviness, there have also been moments of joy, love, smiles, laughter, sharing, friendships. Moments like these remind us that the light still shines in the darkness. They remind us that God’s blessings of love and grace and hope still abound. Sometimes, you just have to search harder to find them.  
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Christmas Blessings, Pastor Sue