Wake up, Wake Up, It's Christmas Morning . . 2014

Wake up, wake up, it's Christmas morning.

Okay, it's almost Christmas afternoon. But traditionally I take it easy on Christmas morning.  It's been quiet around my house.  Nice.

But life has not been quiet as it sprinted toward this Christmas Day.  There were the normal things, the parties and presents, families and friends, music and more music, lots of glorious church services.  I loved every bit of it. It seemed like there was more to do this year than ever before.  Maybe I was looking for more to do.  But however it happened, I felt like I had run out of calendar, never knowing for sure where I was supposed to be next. It was a fun, challenging, entertaining, meaningful and loving time of Advent. Thanks to everyone who helped it be that way.

But there were other things. Important things. Life things. Things that I prayed hard about during Advent.  A wonderful new grandson Charlie who was coming to visit.  Benjamin and Kate who had recently moved to Denver (with the aforesaid Charlie).  Vann, who is approaching his last semester in law school.  A close friend who found out he is seriously sick. A client who received miraculous news about a life or death case, literally.  A conversation over coffee that spilled over into something different.  The coffee didn't spill over. The conversation did.

And all of it seemed to be aimed toward this day.  The celebration of the moment in time when God came. Jesus was born.  Everything changed.

The parties and presents will stop. Gatherings with families and friends will wait until the next special occasion.  And even the music will fade a little into the background of life.

But this other stuff. This real life stuff.  It's not going anywhere. It is just beginning.

And that is Christmas for real.

Christmas is that point in time.  That focus point, where everything became clear.  The light was set against the darkness, a pure, indescribably brilliant, inexhaustible light, that could never be extinguished, and would forever reveal the paths of truth, love and goodness, as well as the evil that enjoys the dark shadows.

The work of love and light had just begun.

I am sure Joseph and Mary felt like they had been through enough to have reached the end of a story when Jesus was finally born and resting in a manger.  Perhaps they offered a prayer of relief.  You know that kind of prayer, "Thank God that's over." Maybe some are saying that today after all the rush of Christmas.

But it wasn't over.  It had just begun. For them. And for Jesus.  And for us.

Some are critical of emphasizing the Christmas story without including the Easter resurrection story.  I agree, both are essential.

But I dwell in the in between.

Where children grow up and new ones are born, where sickness and failure come and stay too long, where success or healing surprise us, where good fights are fought, where love and life can be messy but worth the spillage.

And that is what I celebrate today. Not so much the beginning and the end.

But that God comes to be with me in the In Between.

Merry Christmas.

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