Reflection for the First Sunday of Christmas

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children”

It can be easy, in our one-and-done society, to forget that Christmas is not just a singular event, to be celebrated on December 25^th, and then forgotten about.

It can be easy, in our use-it-and-ditch-it society, to forget that our liturgical calendar celebrates twelve days of Christmas, not before the 25^th, but beginning with that day.

It can be easy, in our “what’s next” society, to set the excitements and stresses of Christmas aside and look toward the next thing, the next holiday, the next big news.

But we have twelve days of this holy season, including two Sundays. Christmas isn’t over yet.

And, further, even when the twelve days of the liturgical calendar are done, and we move on to other seasons and other holidays, we do not leave the joy of Christmas behind. The wonder of the child born for us, the joy and hope that we have in his arrival, and the trust we have in his promised coming again, does not end twelve days after Christmas. We are always children of God. We have been forever adopted, as Paul says in Galatians.

We may find that the world wants us to move on, that we have been indulged quite enough with Christmas songs on the radio singing the joy of Christ and the holy birth, but once December is over, the radio stations, for the most part, return to their regularly scheduled programming, and the joy and hope is forgotten.

It’s like the first snow of the season: bright, white, and enchanting. By the time January comes around, though, each new layer is a little dimmer, pushed under another layer of road salt and snowplowing, and the enchantment dims.

But God’s love does not dim, it does not stay pushed under the layers of weariness and exhaustion, violence and fear, hurt and pain that the world tries to shove on top of it.

God’s love, the great miracle of the birth of Christ, continues, in this season, and the next, and the next, and the next. This birth is only the beginning of Christ’s work in the world.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.