How do we receive the holy Child of Bethlehem?  How do we make room in our busy, self important lives for our Lord Emmanuel?  It starts with an openness to wonder, I think. Receiving Christ into our lives starts first by stopping!  The season of Christmas gives us the opportunity to stop all the activities and distractions that block the wonder of it all; the wonder that God became fully human that we might be embraced by the fullness of God’s love.
     Have you taken time to sit by the fire, or gaze at the stars or stare into the lights of the Christmas tree and just let yourself be lost in wonder, love and praise for the Incarnation? When is the last time you really stopped to ponder the incredible notion that the Creator of the stars at night would descend to us in the form of a poor newborn child?  Rather than try to unwrap and solve the mystery of God’s appearing in such unfathomably marginal and mean circumstances, how might we just recapture the childhood delight that comes from knowing something is true even when we don’t know how it is possible!
    If we start with taking time for wonder, then, I think, wonder is a way of opening the door of lives to joy. It is important to find and enjoy quiet moments of humble awe and wonder, but joy comes at surprising times and in unexpected ways.  Joy doesn’t necessarily come on church calendar command.  Joy comes as a sign, as a gift, that God is among us, but also waiting for us to see and follow and share his presence with others. So while we look back to the Christmas story to remind us how Jesus came into the world, so unexpectedly and scandalously, we must ask anew how to welcome Jesus into our crowded, humble and sometimes even mean circumstances.
    May the wonder that God came down from heaven to a be laid in a manger turn into the greater joy that God still, to this day, comes to us, abides with us as our Lord Emmanuel.

    God’s peace and blessings be with you and yours for a joyful Christmastide,

           The Reverend Anne E. Hodges-Copple

P.S.  The Feast of the Epiphany will be celebrated with Holy Eucharist on Friday, January 6th at 7 p.m. followed by a “change of the season party” where we will take down our Christmas decorations while Jane Lynch gives us one last Christmas sing and takes your requests for other favorite hymns.