It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It’s that time of year. Yeah, I know. It’s crazy that stores begin putting up their Halloween decorations in mid-August it seems. And, I will bet you have already come across some Christmas displays, haven’t you? Yes, retailers do try to make the most of a shopping season. I love the holiday seasons too but for different reasons.

Halloween may have come from the ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain with spirits and the ancestors of the dead, etc. But I love Halloween because today it’s about children dressing up as a Disney princess or Marvel superhero and accumulating a mass of candy. That’s just fun. Our South Church kids will be trick-or-treating inside our church, having a party and costume parade. I love that.    

Thanksgiving is special day as well, especially, as a Congregationalist since the pilgrims were the first Congregationalists to set foot in the New World. I love gathering with loved ones around a table giving thanks to the Lord for such bounty. Then watching some football and having some pie! I love that too.  

Christmas. What can you say about Christmas? Sure, we have commercialized it a little too much. We focus a bit more on the plump, jolly, old elf, and his flying reindeer, than God becoming flesh in Jesus. But it truly is the season of hope, peace, joy, and love. I love the decorations. The special food. My mom sends me a Julekage bread every year. This is a Scandinavian yeasted bread made with cardamom and cinnamon. Renée makes me Lucia buns (Swedish saffron bread) and pepparkakor (Swedish Ginger Cookies). I love the atmosphere. Everyone just seems a bit more cheerful and generous during this season. Yes, I love that.

That’s why, for me, this coming Tuesday is the day. That’s right. For years now, on every November 1st, I start playing my Christmas music. There is too much amazing music to squeeze into one month. Joy to the World. O Holy Night. The First Noel. The Wexford Carol. Angels We Have Heard on High. O Come All Ye Faithful. Good King Wenceslas.

It is the season to remember, “…a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:14). How can one sufficiently celebrate such a thing in thirty days? I can’t. That’s why I begin on Tuesday. That’s when I start proclaiming, “Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.”             

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