Happy St. Stephen’s Day, and Happy *SECOND* Day of Christmas!
Our world moves on rapidly from the festivity of Christmas Day. Stores re-open (if they even closed on Christmas Day…), some folks go right back to work, and decorations start to disappear. Valentine’s Day candy will already be appearing in the aisles. And it’s only the second day of Christmas – we’re supposed to be getting two turtle doves, according to that song, though I’m still not sure what to do with the partridge in a pear tree!
Keeping the feast of Christmas is just as much a spiritual discipline as keeping the quiet of Advent.
But maybe instead of feasting in the conventional sense, we can feast on the deeper meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ. We can delve more deeply into what it means for us that the Eternal Word became incarnate of blessed Mary and became human.
The three holy days that follow Christmas Day give us a glimpse:
St Stephen, one of the first deacons, and the first to be martyred.
St John, the only one of the twelve apostles who was not martyred.
The Holy Innocents, the young children slain by King Herod in his effort to kill the child Jesus. (Read Matthew 2:13-23 to read about Jesus, Mary and Joseph being refugees in Egypt to escape Herod’s violence)
These are definitely not the holidays that get festive cards, but they reveal the wonder of God’s love in being born as a little baby. Christ was born not into a perfect world where all is calm and bright – nor do we live in one. Christ is the calm and the brightness in the midst of violence, oppression, grief. Christ, in his eternal love, takes on our frailty and weakness as his own.
That’s the kind of love God is showing us in Christmas. Not that our lives will be perfect, but that God’s love is perfect, and abides with us always, no matter what, and embraces both the joys and the heartaches and cries of the world … and embraces all our joys and heartaches, too. That is the power of God’s love.
Christina Rossetti’s classic poem from 1885, “Love Came Down at Christmas” (which is also hymn 84 in our hymnal) reminds us of this truth powerfully, too.
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine,
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love Incarnate, Love Divine,
Worship we our Jesus,
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,*
Love for plea and gift and sign.
Much love in this holy Christmas season, friends. Be well, and let us be the living sign of Christ’s love to all.
Peace, Fr. Joseph
Fr. Joseph’s contact: For more urgent situations outside of office hours, please call or text his cell at 208-917-2270. If calling, please leave a message with your name, a call-back number, and a detailed message and he will get back to you as soon as he can. You can also text this number. Emails are generally answered when he is in the office.
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