Happy New Year to you all! After the busyness of December I hope you were able to enjoy some quality time for yourselves over the Christmas and New Year period.
The days between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day seem to pass quicker every year. Once New Year’s Day is over we hastily move on. In this country we seem to spend more time celebrating Christmas before it actually arrives and so once 2nd January is here we are happy to get life back into its usual routine. Is this the case in your household? Is Christmas all packed away and back in the loft for another 11 months or so? The traditional time to take down the decorations is at the end of Epiphany on Twelfth Night, yet I must confess we are all packed away ready to begin a new week of everything being back to normal. It was simply more convenient to do it this week than next. I am almost envious of other European countries where Christmas begins on Christmas Eve and the festive celebration continues through until the twelfth night.
So when is Christmas actually over? When the last of the decorations are packed away, when the tree is recycled in the green bin, or when the last of the chocolate treats are finally eaten? I was challenged this week as I came across a little poem by civil rights leader and theologian Dr. Howard Thurman “The Work of Christmas”. It made me think very differently about this question and I hope it may challenge you too:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
Every blessing for the coming year,
Major Adrian