Day Ten Christmas Present

Just imagine those ten lords a leaping non-stop for 231 years.

That's when the "Twelve Days of Christmas" was published as a poem in an English children's book, Mirth Without Mischief.  Either before, or shortly after it was published, it became a memory game. The first player recited verse one and each following player repeated what was said before, then added the next verse.  If anyone made a mistake, they had to give someone else a gift of food or a kiss.

We are celebrating Christmas present.  Its full of memories of the past and hopes for the future.  But our celebration is now, in the present tense. 

We are moving, now as then, toward Epiphany, a celebration of the star's illumination, revealing God to those who came searching.

The gifts of the past hold moments when we rested with God.  At the manger, on retreat, in family celebrations and quiet times.

They guide us toward a present that lives as long as we continue searching for the living God.  Have you ever told someone to wait right there, thinking you'd know where to find them when you came back?   Ten Lords a Leaping in place for 231 years.....a peaceful baby still lying in the manger over 2,000 years later, same people, same place, I don't think so.  We seek and serve a living God, one who moves and calls, nudges and reveals. Not then, not later, but now.

.....if you embrace what is to come from God, 

if you live for Christ's coming in practical life, 

you will learn that divine things can be experienced here and now, 

things quite different from what our human brains can ever imagine.  

-Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, Action in Waiting

In Joy, Pastor Karen