Happy New Year!!
But Merry Christmas is still very appropriate. Did you know that we are still in the season of Christmas? Did you know that the 12 days of Christmas come after Christmas Day? There are 12 days from Christmas Day until the day of Epiphany. Most people think that the season of Christmas is the time leading up to Christmas Day, when actually, that season is Advent, when we wait and anticipate the birth of Christ.
This journey through Advent with Mary and Joseph was enlightening for me in relating my life to the difficulties of preparation and anticipation of this new birth. Did you feel it too? It’s been challenging at times to slow down and experience silence…breathing in the goodness of God, and breathing out the distractions.
But what does this all mean now? Jesus is born. Jesus is yet to come. Jesus is here but Jesus died more than 2000 years ago. How do we make sense of all that we know from God’s word?
One thing we know is that new life begins every day, with forgiveness and mercy. Beginning a new year is very significant for some. Life might have brought a lot of “curve-balls” for you in 2025, but the page just turned, and new life can begin. It’s 2026 now.
After the Christmas season, we enter into a sea-son of epiphany and the time after, which is a time we can focus on this new light that dawns on the darkness of a world filled with sin. Jesus is that light. Jesus is the hope for salvation, but also the hope for a life filled with joy and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through us. Our journey (like Jesus’ life) is just beginning. Every year, every season, and even every day.
Christmas is not over yet. As I write this, Christmas Day is still five days away. And the Christmas season hasn’t even begun. We will celebrate this year with Christmas songs and their history, until the day of Epiphany, which is when the Wise Men appear at the manger scene, and the season of Epiphany begins. And we will celebrate the light that Christ brings into this world and watch the dark dissipate as our days begin to lengthen and the warmth and love of the light settle in.
Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Blessings in this journey,
Pastor Patti