Zephaniah 3: 14-20
Psalm 66,67
Titus 2: 1-10
Luke 1: 1-25
A French friend taught me a Provençal Christmas blessing:
“Allègre ! allègre ! mes beaux enfants, que Dieu vous rende joyeux et que l'an prochain si nous n'y sommes pas plus que nous n'y soyons pas moins.”
“God give us grace to be joyous, and for next year, if we are not more, let us not be less."
We are all in different places in our lives: some like my sons, leaving the family circle to strike out on their own, others forming new families and experiencing the blessings of births, others looking after aging parents or discovering new ways to keep busy in retirement. Christmas is an ever-changing feast in each new phase of our lives, sometimes surrounded by mayhem and sometimes by quiet solitude. This year is going to be especially hard for me because my family lost a dear loved one this fall, and his absence at our Christmas dinner table will be hard. More difficult Christmases are to come, I know, as we may become “less” before we become “more.” The psalm for today says, “My soul finds rest in God alone.” That is never truer than as we worship the birth of the most famous baby in history, Jesus Christ. Let the light he brought to the world shine on us and be our refuge.
Treanor Baring