Epiphany 2012

 Epiphany 2012 began in earnest on January 6th.  In the West, we have celebrated the event called "Little Christmas," when the wise gentiles from the East (representing all seekers worldwide) finally found the Christ Child.  It is thought by many scholars that it took a good year for the Visitors to find Jesus and the family - probably still in Bethlehem.  They searched and searched for God's best (and so should we).

  It is thought by many that when the wise visitors somehow got mixed up with Herod the Great (who was not so great), they avoided him like the plague - after finding and worshipping the Christ Child.  Herod wanted to eliminate all pretenders to his throne and, thereby, choose any male under the age of two.  The Holy Family then fled into exile in Egypt (from whence the Israelites had come) and hid away until it was safe to return. 

  While we in the West celebrate the "Light of God's Revelation" in the form of a star and the discerning of God's plan, the Eastern Churches celebrate Christmas...

  God's gift of a Son - remarkably keeps blessing any of those who will - still - receive "the only Begotten Son...,"  this Child of God...

Delta's Flowering plant

     Delta's flowering plant still blooms on the Administrator's desk, basking in the afternoon sunset...

It served in the concluding days of Advent to remind me once again that this medical Missionary to Nigeria, to Alaska, and to many more lives along the way...still lives.
  Her flowering plant, so beautiful and so healthy still, - is a reminder that Delta lives... gone from our sight, that is all...  She resides along with all those to whom I've (we've) been forced to say a temporal good-bye,  
     but one day, we will all be together again.  As surely as a Star led those who were seeking, we seek the Coming One and all He offers to those whose hearts are turned outward to those around and Heavenward to those who await...

Christmas is a Season

All Saints Altar just after Midnight Christmas Day 2011

...Christmas truly begins with the Nativity of Our LORD on December 24-25.  When the world puts away lights and wondrous wishes and begins to turn toward the future, I love to pause - during this special week to recall the incredible gift of a Child who came among us so that, in fact, we could look to a more glorious future than we could otherwise imagine, embrace, or enter...

Exhaustion

     Christmas Day culminates in mixed emotions.  For a pastor, the body is exhausted but the spirit uplifted.  I loved the chance to share a dramatic presentation including a song to eager participants in the Christmas Eve Services.  Watching the candles' kindle in the eyes of a gifted tenor brought particular peace to my heart.  Watching little Kennedy dance to "Go Tell It on the Mountain" on Christmas Day brought joy to my heart.

     Much more could be shared, but I'll have to reflect on the satisfaction that munching on ham ("man candy") and cheesy potatoes brings...Thanks, Molly and Mike!  I sorely missed Mark for the first time in 25 Christmases and his bride, Marissa.  But the reflection of love in the faces of those gathered around a tree larger than me brought a calm to my heart.  As Henry Van Dyke wrote around one hundred years ago...It is a good thing to keep Christmas and to share it with as many as we can........
   

Memories..."Christmas Memories"

There is a song which was once recorded by "the Chairman of the Board" and more recently by Rosemary Clooney.  The song has a line that always brings me to the point of both tears and deep nostalgia as I remember my own upbringing and that of my children.  It unfolds this way...

"Happy faces
of all the children
who now have children of their own...

Memories, Christmas memories,
of all the Christmases I have known..."

I'm not always aware of the passage of time - until I see such in the faces and the maturity of the children I've known.  Kids like Josh Bonno, Marion O'Neil - whom I baptized and who is about to be married to a courageous soldier, and Marissa Bergeson - who just married my second birth ordered son, Mark, in a beautiful Advent Service when my captivating Gaelic Granddaughters, Aine and Sylvie, danced the night away on Dec. 10th...

"Memories, precious memories......of all the joys that I have known.

The Kid's Table...

     This Thanksgiving Eve, something suddenly brought to my remembrance "the kid's table."  Whenever we gathered at my grandmother's home or later at my uncle's home, there was always "a kid's table."  We who were young relished "the kid's table" at Thanksgiving or during other family celebrations, where laughter abounded. 
     I remember one year when I was hesitant to eat something on my plate - as an elementary student, and my grandmother "Sugar," walking through the pantry where "the kid's table" was strategically placed.  She pointed to the nearest window and blurted out, "Santa's watchin'; y'all...better clean those plates...you and 'Bruce-y.'"
     Years later at my Uncle Bill's in Georgia, we still occupied "the kid's table" at the holiday gathering in the mid-1970's.  We were collegiate aged, but the feel was still the same.  We were still the next generation to wear the mantle of serious deliberation in a difficult world - with inflation, energy crises, and limited job opportunities.
     Somehow, I wish I could go back to those moments - when we shared "the kid's table" right after the Cuban Missile Crisis or years later when the world seemed so awry.  But now I'm the patriarch with many of the same aspirations and doubts as I had two thirds of the way through the last century.
     And now I occupy the main table, wishing I could go back again and have just one more conversation with all those who once occupied the main table and have passed forward the mantle of leadership.  Little eyes will soon peer my way, and what I can and hope to offer is a word of Thankfulness...Thankfulness that the world will be in good hands when these little ones leave the security of "the kid's table" to take our places at the main....

The Reign of Christ Sunday

     The Sunday that is fast approaching is the Reign of Christ Sunday.  It ends one period of Ecclesiastical Time and helps us prepare for another.  But for me, I'm reminded to "redeem the time."  New Years Eve is like that for many, but for me the joy of anticipation with the coming of Advent is the moment when I renew my enthusiasm for hope.  If, in fact, Christ comes anew and afresh, wouldn't it be phenomenal if we saw Him present in our midst.  We will...watch, wait, be hopeful, because Christ truly reigns, and the serendipity of it all is that the Triune God can't wait to catch us off guard, to surprise us, and to bless us in remarkable ways.

     Today, as on every Wednesday and Thursday, I was blessed by the students of Little Saints Christian School.  They couldn't wait to lift their offerings high above their heads as we prayed a prayer of consecration - that their gifts would touch many lives with the reach of Jesus.  They clung to the plate, and I hope that Susan caught their eagerness, "hands-on" dedication, and the wonder in their eyes with her camera, as these children reminded me once again that the best is yet to be when we share our days with threes, fours, and young fives, filled with eager anticipation.  That's what beginning a new cycle of Ecclesiastical Time is all about...starting fresh with child-like wonder.