The Day After Christmas

On Sunday, December 29th, Gene Wingert^[1] wove The Day After Christmas throughout the morning worship service at Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church  (referred to as EBIC in the PDF). The meditation was so stirring that I asked for a copy to share with you (click here  for a PDF). How apt to post on Epiphany, The Day of Three Kings, and in anticipation of sharing gifts in ministry with InterVarsity staff at our triennial staff conference (January 7 – 11, St. Louis).

As a teaser, below is the first part. May you likewise find this meditation a blessing as you re-engage the complexities of campus life, telling everyone what you have seen and heard  as God has spoken to you (and the people of God) through His word, and as you treasured these things in your  heart, thoughtfully reflecting on their meaning. May we — everywhere we go and in all that we do — give praise and glory to God for all that we have seen and heard. AND may we continue to do such throughout 2014. To God be the glory!

The Day After Christmas

‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even the mouse

The stockings were empty, the Christmas tree bare

For jolly St. Nicolas had already been there.

The family was bushed and thoroughly beat

Collapsed from exhaustion and too much to eat

The dishes were stacked in a heap in the sink

for attempting to do them was just too much to think

Rolaids were handy for pains most distressing

from belly’s stuffed full of roast turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce, pickles, nuts, candy and pie – to mention just a few

The relief that was marked on two or three faces

Was sign that the relatives had returned to their places

And as they dozed off one was heard to exclaim

“Boy and I glad that’s done for another whole year.”

That indeed may reflect our feelings on the day after Christmas. As we wrap up the  Christmas season there is a certain sense of relief after all of the intensity, the extra work,  the many things to do, that seem to come with this time of year.

But there also comes an inevitable let-down and sense of loss, even depression and  disillusionment.

We journey towards Christmas with anticipation and excitement – even as the Shepherds  went to Bethlehem – with haste.

And the celebration itself — the special services, the music, the lights, the gathering of  family, the gifts and the feasting — all lift our spirits,

And In the midst of all this warmth and glow we are at times inclined to feel as if the  world has changed, that peace, goodwill, joy and charity have indeed found their place in  the heart of humanity.

• The children still bug us about the same things,
• the neighbors take down their tree and up goes the same wall of cold isolation,
• the carolers go home and no one calls again for another year,
• the problems at work are still the same,
• parents still don’t understand,
• and teachers haven’t learned anything about compassion over the Christmas  break.
• We are burdened with the same aches and pains of body and soul.

So it becomes necessary on The Day after Christmas to leave the festival and begin the road back to the places where we live out our daily lives

And that is the question and focus of our time together this morning: How do we journey after Christmas — in the routines of home, work school, in the places where our bodies do not always work, where relationships are fraught with danger, where there is no star in the sky, no angel choirs, where wise men are in short supply and Herod is still very much on the throne?

At the conclusion of the Christmas story in Luke’s gospel, we read how the shepherds and Mary responded after the momentous event of the birth of Christ and these verses give us some clues as to how take up the Journey on the Day after Christmas:

17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what  had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the  shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in  her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they  had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

In these brief verses we can see

• A Journey Outward to the world that God loves and for which Christ came and died
• A Journey Inward – Mary pondering these things in her heart
• A Journey Upward – glorifying and praising God in a life lived of the Father’s love begotten, by the Spirit, for the Glory of the Lord.

Click here  to pick-up with Evangelizing: Everywhere All the Time. A Journey Outward to the world that God loves and for which Christ came and died . . .

Notes

Tom Grosh IV

Tom enjoys daily conversations regarding living out the Biblical Story with his wife Theresa and their four girls, around the block, at Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church (where he teaches adult electives and co-leads a small group), among healthcare professionals as the Northeast Regional Director for the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), and in higher ed as a volunteer with the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). For a number of years, the Christian Medical Society / CMDA at Penn State College of Medicine was the hub of his ministry with CMDA. Note: Tom served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA for 20+ years, including 6+ years as the Associate Director of ESN. He has written for the ESN blog from its launch in August 2008. He has studied Biology (B.S.), Higher Education (M.A.), Spiritual Direction (Certificate), Spiritual Formation (M.A.R.), Ministry to Emerging Generations (D.Min.). To God be the glory!