 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Saturday, December 31, 2022 New Year’s Eve7th day of Christmas The Holy Name of Jesus  It’s the seventh day of Christmas. We are still opening little gifts, having family dinners every night, reading Christmas stories – and enjoying the Christmas tree lights. I hope you are, too. There are so many things to think about, to read, to re-read and to ponder when we imagine the coming of Jesus to be among us – including the end of the nativity story in Luke, and the story in Matthew that tells about Jesus being taken to the temple on the 8th day, named and circumcised, as was the custom of his people. We traditionally celebrate that feast, the Holy Name of Jesus, on January 1 – eight days after we celebrate the birth of the Child. And we will. But It is also the only Sunday we have after Christmas before Epiphany. And I don’t want to miss the readings for the first Sunday after Christmas, either – so we will hear them both.  Happy New Year a reflection by Donna Ashworth Why do we start a new year with promises to improve? Who began this tradition of never-ending pressure? I say, the end of a year should be filled with congratulations for all we survived. And I say, a new year should start with promises to be kinder to ourselves, to understand better just how much we bear, as humans on this exhausting treadmill of life. And if we are to promise more, let’s pledge to rest, before our bodies force us. Let’s pledge to stop, and drink in life as it happens. Let’s pledge to strip away a layer of perfection to reveal the flawed and wondrous humanity we truly are inside. Why start another year, gifted to us on this earth, with demands on our already over-strained humanity? When we could be learning to accept that we were always supposed to be imperfect. And that is where the beauty lives, actually. And if we can only find that beauty, we would also find peace. I wish you peace in 2023, Everything else is all just a part of it. Let it be so.   |
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