Maybe it’s just me, but somehow I’m detecting less energy in the culture for celebrating Christmas this year. Most people I know say they’re forgetting the Christmas cards and dialing back on the entertaining, especially with what can be the daunting world of food allergies and preferences. And not enough time…
My grandsons don’t seem to want much that I can afford except X-box cards (wince). Some friends say they’re buying fewer gifts because people “have everything”. Fewer people are going on cookie-baking marathons because they’re watching calories, or cutting back on the outdoor lights to save energy (unless you live next door to the rector, that is. There are not only Santa and mangers, there are Christmas penguins! It’s something to see….)
And each year as we get older, the holiday “baggage” may increase, with painful memories and more empty seats at the table.
As for me, I take solace in the old Christmas movies from the 1940’s: “White Christmas,” “Holiday Inn,” “Christmas in Connecticut.” In some ways, the present landscape is so depressing – especially politically and with the planet in such peril – that I need to get away for awhile to a different set of problems. World War II and its clear-cut patriotism permeates these films, with soldiers in uniform and beautiful ballads… “I’ll Be Seeing You,” “Let It Snow,” “The Best Things Happen When You’re Dancing…”
Still, we come to church, to hear the stories, to listen to the music, to pray the prayers, to receive the Bread and Wine, to be a part of the community, and to have an hour to be quiet amidst the bustle.
This week, the wild man John the Baptist strides into the picture, the desert ascetic, outrageous, offending the wrong people, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah and later wondering if he is indeed “the One.” John, who must have been a huge disappointment to his priestly father. John, whose appearance we know more about than anyone else in Scripture. John, whose passion for speaking out cost him…. well, that happens later.
I thought the picture above was good with the hair…
Church is a constant for many of us, a community, a place to ask the Big Questions, a place for the head and the heart.
“Could you not watch with me for one hour?” Jesus asked his sleeping Disciples on Maundy Thursday. Each Sunday morning, maybe he asks the same of us?
See you in church.
It will be about an hour.
Barbara
