Busy Season
FROM THE RECTOR
When I was four years old, I got engaged to my across-the-street neighbor and best friend. We played together every day, and, because we seemed compatible, marriage felt like a reasonable outcome for our friendship. Being a few months older than I, she was more experienced at life, and I was happy to take direction from her, gathering as many holly berries and pinecones as she thought we needed each day. Ultimately, it did not work out between us. Our first big argument was over whose birthday we would choose for our wedding day, each of us preferring our own. When our parents informed us that, if our anniversary were also our birthday, we likely would only receive one present, we stopped arguing about when we would get married, but, over time, it became clear that marriage was not in our future. Apparently, even limitless holly berries and pinecones are not enough of a foundation for a life-long partnership.
I have always wondered what it feels like to have a birthday at Christmas. My birthday sometimes falls on Memorial Day, but no one ever skimps on presents because of Memorial Day. I trust that the parents of children whose birthdays fall close to December 25 go out of their way to honor those birthdays, but sharing your birthday with Jesus surely has its drawbacks.
This year, Jesus shares his birthday with a Sunday, and many churches (and worshippers) are unsure what to do about it. The St. Paul’s staff wrestled over whether to maintain our typical Sunday schedule of three services or use our traditional Christmas Day schedule of one 10:00 a.m. service or meet somewhere in the middle. Ultimately, we decided to offer one service at 10:00 a.m., trusting that most people will wake up focused on Christmas instead of Sunday, but the choice still leaves me a little bit unsettled. What about the faithful Rite I parishioners who come every week at 7:30 a.m.? What about the people who pull into the parking lot at 10:55 a.m. just as the only service is wrapping up?
Many Protestant congregations have cancelled Sunday-morning worship altogether, and some of them are being criticized on social media for abandoning their sacred responsibilities. I cannot imagine cancelling Sunday-morning worship, but I also trust pastors and lay leaders to know what is best in their specific context. If you want to come on Christmas Eve and count that as your church attendance for the weekend, please do. If you want to come back on Sunday morning in order to maintain an important spiritual habit, I will be delighted to see you. The quiet holiness of the Christmas Day service makes it one of my favorites. And, if you are curious, the Sunday-morning lessons will be different (John 1 instead of Luke 2), and Suzanne will be preaching instead of me, so it will not feel like the same service all over again.
The collision of Sunday morning and Christmas Day also gives me the chance to highlight some other important celebrations that often get overlooked. Every year on December 26, the church celebrates the feast of St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr. On December 27, the church remembers St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. On December 28, the church commemorates the Holy Innocents—the multitude of Jewish boys who were murdered by Herod according to Matthew 2:13-18. Those are three major feasts in the life of the church, but, because of the focus on Christmas, none of them usually gets much notice.
Another Major Feast that sometimes gets overlooked is the Feast of the Holy Name, which always falls on January 1, eight days after Christmas Day. On the eighth day of their lives, Jewish males are traditionally circumcised and given their name, and we commemorate that event in Jesus’ life not only to remember his Jewish identity but also to celebrate his name, which means, “God saves.” In the Christian tradition, we also believe that God has given the divine name to Jesus, the Incarnate Word, who is rightly called “Lord”—a euphemism for the proper name of Israel’s God. As St. Paul wrote of Christ Jesus in Philippians 2, “God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.” At the feast of the Holy Name, we celebrate both.
Because Christmas Day and New Year’s Day always fall on the same day of the week, we will have an opportunity this year to celebrate the Holy Name on a Sunday. When they fall on a Sunday, most major feasts, including the three that follow immediately after Christmas Day, are bumped to a succeeding weekday, but the Holy Name, along with the Presentation and the Transfiguration, is important enough to take precedence over a Sunday. That makes our celebration on January 1 one of the most important of the year.
This is a busy time for all of us, but it is also a time to focus on what matters most. Our usual patterns of school, work, and play fall into the background as Christmas approaches. This is the season to make extra time for family gatherings, volunteer opportunities, and church services. Ordinarily, it can be hard to find enough time to slow down and attend to the people and institutions that we value most, but that seems to come more easily this time of year. Lean into the interruption that the holidays bring. Do not let a single day pass without appreciating it. Otherwise, you will be back to normal in the middle of January before you know it.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan D. Garner