MONDAY MUSINGS

January 7, 2008

Packing Away Christmas

Officially the season of Christmas came to an end on Saturday, January 5, completing the twelve days of Christmas.  The Armenian Orthodox Church holds to January 6 as being the proper day to observe Christmas, so for them this is the second day of Christmas.

I am amazed by how quickly the commercial world about us is finished with Christmas.  The radio stations cease the Christmas music programming by December 26 as the stores hurry to sell the Christmas merchandize and make room for January White Sales and Valentine’s Day goods.  On my walk on Christmas Day afternoon I encountered three barren Christmas trees by the street, waiting for the trash removal service.  Enough of the build up for Christmas – let’s move on.

Reluctantly I started packing away Christmas on Sunday afternoon.  The Dickens’ Village is back in the boxes and on the storage shelves in the basement.  The Christmas tree is soon to be back in its special closet, stripped of its ornaments and trimmings.  A small wooden German village with a marching choir and wood shaving trees is in the trunk in the living room where many of the accumulated Christmas decorations reside for eleven months.  The house looks bare, and it will take some time for me to make the mental adjustments.

Jesus meek and mild in the manger is a non-threatening presence in our world.  The infant Jesus is cuddly and innocent, not a problem for anyone.  The adult Jesus is another story.  Although his ministry was Good News to many, he was not bashful about confronting the authorities, religious and civic, who used religion and power as tools to dominate, not as instruments of peace and grace.  Better to keep Jesus in a manger than to set him loose to challenge the ways things are to the advantage of some but not to others.

So we pack away Christmas for another year, but we cannot pack away the one whose birth we celebrate.  This adult Jesus strides into our lives and calls into question much of what we have found to be convenient and comfortable.  The price for such boldness will soon be evident as we walk again the path of Lent toward Holy Week.  This will be an irksome walk for us if we take it seriously.

Sweep up the pine needles, put away the trimmings, rearrange the furniture, and be prepared for some internal disruptions as we seek to follow this Jesus. Peace.  John Krueger