Finishing Up Christmas

Finishing Up Christmas

It’s just different – having Christmas on Sunday. Personally, I like the idea of being in church on the day that we celebrate our Lord’s birth, but there are a lot of other things that it changes, too. Not only does it mean that you’re in church two days in a row (and sometimes very late Saturday night as well as early Sunday morning) but, it also means that Christmas Sunday is the last Sunday in the month.

When Christmas falls on any other day of the week – there is one more Sunday left in the month of December. This allows for – well – closure. We’re allowed to “have Christmas” and still have one more Sunday to reflect on the year – and one more Sunday to hear a concluding Christmas sermon before taking down all the decorations and jumping into the New Year. Many pastors start new sermon series on the first Sunday in January, but there’s just something abrupt about starting something new, immediately the Sunday after Christmas.

I will be preaching on New Year’s Day this year and I’m going to “finish up Christmas”. My sermon will revolve around Simeon and Anna and their response/reaction to the Christ Child. But perhaps, that is a perfect New Year’s sermon. Just how will our response/reaction to the Christ Child direct our new year?

So really – maybe it’s actually the perfect way to begin the New Year after all!

 

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, what is my response to the Christ Child? Have I been waiting in anticipation for His coming? Am I waiting in anticipation for His second coming? As we take our first steps into this New Year, I pray that they will be made with a hope and eagerness that expresses our faith and trust that You, and You alone, hold this New Year.

Father, the world around us is in turmoil. As the hymn writer said [there are] “fightings and fears within and without…” How do we walk faithfully in such a time as this?

We turn, Father, to Your Word. Simeon and Anna lived in an equally fearful time and they walked faithfully. May we hold to their example as we face this daunting new year. We wait in eager anticipation for Christ’s glorious return, and every day we pray “Maybe today, Lord. Maybe today. But as we walk daily in the presence of our Savior we also sing with the hymn writer, “O Lamb of God, I come… I come”.

Thank you Lord for faithful writers who fill our hearts with courage, peace and joy! In the precious name of our Savior we pray – Amen.