New Year!

This has been a really special Christmas season.  All the special foods and events have called to mind so many years of great memories.  A light covering of snow fell on Christmas Eve, as if ordered up by a Hollywood set designer.  With beautiful music in the air, candles lighting the church, and family members and friends all gathered around, it is hard not to feel God's presence and love.

But now it is January, and the temperatures have dropped precipitously.  The grey sky dampens all energy during the short winter days, and even ordinary work is hard to finish.  We just want to go back to our regular routines.

But this is not a time for business as usual.  Christ is in the world, and we are called to be changed.  Now is the time for making big plans, engaging in new projects, and reaching out in love to those who have been ignored.  New Year's resolutions are a good way to get going, provided that we take them seriously, and undertake to do something of real value.  Like shepherds who have heard angels overhead, we need to wake up from winter laziness and charge into the world full of hope.  Like wise men avoiding King Herod, we need to be willing to head out from seeing the newborn baby by a new and unknown route.  We can get ready by picking up a Bible and reading the old stories with fresh eyes.  We can get ready by getting back to church, and by making friends with people we haven't paid attention to.  We can get ready by volunteering for missions we have held back from trying.  We can build up habits of generosity by giving unexpectedly.  New life is right here, and right now.  Happy New Year!