So ... whew ... after all that mad rushing around to get ready for Christmas, the party’s over. I know it’s New Year’s Day and some of you may have plans to extend the party until tomorrow, but here at church, the season of Advent is well over and Christmas Eve and Day are but a memory. Willie Nelson had a hit song back in the ’70s that expresses some week-after-Christmas feelings: “Turn out the lights; the party’s over. They say that all good things must end. Let’s call it a night; the party’s over. And tomorrow starts the same old thing again.”

            That sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Ho-hum. We do all this preparing for Christmas — digging everything out of the attic, basement, garage or storage shed — decorating, cleaning, buying, wrapping, baking and cooking. At church, we prepare for the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, in the form of the infant Jesus. After the holidays are over, it’s a bit of a letdown for some of us to go back to the grind on January 2. The world is the same as it was the week before the Christ child came to us, isn’t it?

Faithful Joseph

            Bible scholars tell us that for the Jewish people in the first century, the days that followed their holiday celebrations often held the same “tomorrow starts the same old thing again” feeling that some of us have here this morning.

...approximately 1,553 words remaining. You are not logged in. Please see options at the top of this page to view complete sermon.