Twas the Night After Christmas
Before I start out, I need to find my mother-in-law. This first part is fictional… OK… as in not true… but it’s going to set up my sermon so roll with it ok?
’Twas the night after Christmas
I remember it well,
With presents all over,
My house looked like… bad!
The stockings once hung,
by the chimney with care,
Were now on the floor…
Thrown here and thrown there!
The in-laws were gone,
Headed back to Dakota…
But not before getting
Will hopped up on soda!
We collapse on the couch
no energy to spare,
He swings from the curtain
And we don’t even care.
We finally got him
taped down to his bed,
All high on sugar,
Too much candy, we said.
The ensuing mess,
still lay on the floor,
we try to avoid it,
it instills too much horror.
The food is still out,
Turning greyer in time,
No one dare touch it,
It’s three quarters slime.
We vow never ever,
Shall we ever again
Bring sooo… ooh many
Into our… tiny den.
And so as me and mine
Finally give up the fight,
Merry Christmas to all,
And to all a good night.
So here we are, just a few days after Christmas. How are you doing? Are you still buzzing with the excitement of Christmas? Or… not so much. Are you a little run down… tired of the festivities… ready for this new year to get started already so we can just get on with our normal lives again. Dreading going back to work? To be honest I was dreading today a little bit. Me and the other 20 some pastor’s I graduated with were all saying the same thing as we procrastinated on Facebook together… “I have no idea what I am going to say tomorrow” we said to each other. I debated having a hymn sing and calling it a Sunday, but then Alyssa guided me back to wisdom. After ALL Kay has done this past week with extra services… I’d kill you if I was her. So I thought wiser of it and went back to the grindstone.
Then, I got this little bit of inspiration. I’m not alone… in being run down. Sure pastors are always a bit worn out after the holidays, but it’s not just us. We’ve all been running nonstop trying to pull this holiday together. To further prove my point… an amazing thing happened yesterday morning… the Holy Spirit moved me towards a story in yesterday’s Pantagraph. Sitting on the top of the paper pile was yesterday’s “Life” section… and an article “Moving On… the Day after Christmas.” I think it helps paint the right perspective.
It’s the day after Christmas and my friend Sissy Blissman, the sweetest person you’d ever want to meet, has already taken down her Christmas tree.
In fact, the tree was dismantled Christmas afternoon. The ornaments were packed and tucked away in the closet. The strings of lights were neatly wound up and stuck in the garage. Torn ribbons and bows were collected and hauled to the curb for garbage pickup. By 5 p.m. Christmas night, there was nary a sign that Dec. 25th was anything other than an ordinary day. Not a sprig of mistletoe remained.
“I love decorating the house for Christmas,” she says, “but by the time Christmas day rolls around, I am tired of looking at it all.”
It’s a different story at our house. I haven’t recovered from Christmas day yet. Scraps of wrapping paper litter the floor and the dog is still wearing the red bow someone put around her neck. Crumbs of Christmas cookies cover the kitchen floor, but they are barely noticeable compared to the stain on the drapes where hot chocolate splashed after Aunt Martha knocked over a mug when she was demonstrating her pirouette from her role in the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” in 1966.
The nativity set looks like a windstorm went through Bethlehem; the miniature pieces are scattered every which way after a small child took an interest in the wisemen, shepherds and camels. As for the Christmas tree, well, we can forget about it coming down for a while. We are still too busy bumbling around in our housecoats searching for dirty dishes that might be shoveled under the couch.
Done. That might be the word for it. Done. Ready to put Christmas back in its box and forget it again until next year. Or, as one of my friends put it so well… “Manheim Steamrollers… we thank you for your wonderful contribution of a rocking ‘Carol of the Bells’ however… you can go away now… please.”
Its something we can all perhaps sympathize with a little bit… so much is built into this season… that once it is over we just want it to BE over… we want to recover and get back to our normal lives. In some ways… I think that is the same way it was 2000 years ago.
We’ve been digging into the nativity characters and digging into their backgrounds learning about all the events and circumstances that led them to Bethlehem… but part of the inspiration of this sermon was sitting down and pondering… “What was it like for them after Christmas?”
For the Wisemen… it meant a long road home. Scholars estimate that it took them several months to get to Bethlehem in the west… well, that trip is going to take them several months to get home to the east too. And you know something… the trip home is always longer than the trip getting there. I’m sure we have all seen that little drama play out in our own lives… the alarm goes of at 5 a.m. *sigh* well, I suppose we should get on the road, we need to be back for work tomorrow… and already in you mind thousands and thousands of little yellow lines are buzzing past your head. I’m sure the wisemen were just ready to be DONE with it all.
The Shepherds… after this amazing event… went back to being Shepherds. Went back to their lives of being hated and despised… outcast… unwanted. *sigh* Perhaps a few of us have been there too. The Holiday season meant something special, meant they were a part of something fantastic, for a little while… but now that’s over… now they are back to their normal humdrum lives… things are just empty now. And those shepherds are just ready to be DONE with it all too.
How about Bethlehem… we talked about Bethlehem bursting at the seams… imagine what it was like when those 20,000 visitors to pack up and leave after the census was over. That little town of 1,000 probably felt so small now… deserted really. Like our living rooms after all the family has left. *sigh* Yes it’s nice to be back to normal, but something better is missing isn’t it. Makes Bethlehem long for it again. And they begin to just want things to go back to normal so they can stop feeling this way… I’m sure Bethlehem is just ready to be DONE with it all too.
How about Mary and Joseph… you know… it’s high time we had some scripture verses. Let’s turn the Matthew 2:13-15, and lets read what it was like for Mary and Joseph just a few days after Christmas.
Matthew 2:13-15 (Page 1498)
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
Now… it was not all that long ago that we had Eli. After a baby is born… all you want to do is sleep as much as possible… rest as much as possible… and keep things as calm as possible. So imagine this poor couple being told… it’s time for you to go on an extended vacation to Egypt… travel several thousand miles… on a donkey… flee for your lives! Oh yeah, and by the way… Merry Christmas. *sigh* You think Mary and Joseph were ready for things to just get back to normal?
The bible is filled with characters that I think we can sympathize with… the drag of the season making us all ready for it all to just be DONE. But there is one major character left in the story… one I saved for last… the last of our “Eye Witness News” Characters. What do you suppose it was like for the Angels!
Now there is an interesting question. More than anyone else in our Christmas narrative, the angels knew exactly what all of this meant. Imagine the joy of Gabriel as he got to go and tell Mary the baby was coming. Imagine the frustration and unbelief of the angel that went to Joseph and said, “C’mon man.” Imagine the incomparable happiness of the angel that announced the birth to the shepherds and had an entire company of heavenly hosts back her up as they broke into amazing song! God has done something amazing… God in flesh… do you KNOW what this means. Mankind… creation itself has been yearning for God’s salvation… and here it is… the answer. God has done it. It’s like heaven has just tied the game up in fantastic fashion and the heavenly crowd is going wild! Do you suppose they are tired of it? Do you suppose they are ready for it all to just be DONE?
No, I don’t think so. I think there might be a small lesson to learn from the angels. I preach and preach about keeping the right mindset leading up to Christmas… but what about keeping the right mindset AFTER Christmas as well. Sure the day is over… but the joy of Christ’s arrival doesn’t have to be.
So I think that is the challenge for us today… we may feel like the wisemen, or the shepherds, or like Bethlehem, or even like Mary and Joseph… fleeing tyrannical dictators… I hope your Christmas wasn’t like that… but I think even they… all those Christmas characters must have had some joy in their hearts. Even they must have known what it meant, and they did what they had to do… with happiness and joy… knowing that the Christ child meant something SO important.
Brothers and sisters, Christmas may indeed be over… but our joy and happiness doesn’t have to be. I hope as you leave this place, you have just a small part of you that says… “OK, I guess I’m not ready for it to be completely DONE… just yet.”
For unto you was born that day in the city of David, a savior… he is Christ the king.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
