Today is Christmas Sunday. Yes. Today.
For many people however, Christmas is over. Everything built up to December 25th and that’s gone. It’s time to move on. For some, it’s time to move on to the next big sales opportunity, Yet,
Jesus still can bind
In love all humankind.
To the manger humbly kneeling,
Still they come for help and healing,
Weary humankind!
by A. Dorothy Angus*
In many ways, while you celebrate Jesus’ birthday on a special day, the celebration of all that this birth means is unending. The verse above explains it. And today is Christmas Sunday.
A different rhythm
As a child I never could figure out when it was Christmas Sunday. It always seemed odd. Christmas Sunday, but, we already had Christmas Day. Now, I get it. Christmas is a season in the church’s life that begins on Christmas Day.The world says get in a frenzy—shop until you drop, make a big splash leading up to Christmas Day and then drop with weariness. The church’s rhythm is different. It says experience Advent first, that season of expectant waiting. Now you’re ready not only for Christmas Day but for the Christmas season. Now you can savor Jesus Christ’s coming and remember all that means for us. Take a moment. Visit with Simeon and Anna and the infant child at the temple (Luke 2:22–38). I like that rhythm. Don’t you?
Pausing to savor the Christmas season is also a reminder that God’s rhythms are different from ours and those around us. Whenever I think of this difference a verse from Peter comes to mind. Perhaps you’re familiar with it: “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (2 Peter 3:8 NRSV).
Whose rhythm?
In some ways, developing your prayer life is you seeking to get on God’s rhythm. That’s part of the reason praying calls for such great intentionality. It’s also part of the reason setting aside intentional times for prayer is difficult. It’s like swimming upstream. Yet, if you want to experience God more fully and live with greater clarity and peace, it’s essential. How you pray in those times also make the difference in how you deal with the upstream.
As in all things you have a choice. You can go along mindlessly with the rhythms around you and miss the fullness that could be yours. You could lose touch completely with the rhythms around you and render your witness irrelevant. Or, you could live the tension of both, recognizing that God’s rhythm takes precedence over all other rhythms, and do everything for the glory of God.
It’s Christmas Sunday, people. Rejoice and give God the glory!
How are you living with God’s rhythm?
Experience God more fully through honest, surrendered heart praying and live with greater clarity and peace.
*”Once There Came to Earth (No. 710) in Congregational Praise. London: Independent Press Ltd., 1951.
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