Brueggemann: Gift of the Christmas Season, Tenth Day of Christmas
“Christmas is especially for those of us whose lives are scarred and hurt in debilitating ways. Of course, that means all of us. Christmas is about a word from God addressed to the world in its exhaustion. ..Behold, I am doing a new thing. Christmas is a day to stop and notice the newness that God is giving that lets our life start over in a fresh place.”—Walter Brueggemann, Devotion for Advent, Celebrating Abundance. pp. 68-69.
We have connected much of our life to schools and colleges. The twelve days of the church’s Christmas season, especially between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, is traditionally a slow-down time for higher education when people are on vacation or less busy. It is incredible how my body and mind have been conditioned over the years to live at a different pace during this Christmas Season. It is a Christmas gift.
The days are shorter. I can sleep until seven am and go to my window, and still watch the world yawn and wake up around me. This morning is rainy and wet with a dense fog. There are fewer leaves. Even with the thick mist, I can see at a greater distance with a broader worldview. I watch the deer gallop away together by my window, back to the woods, as they hear the sound of cars. The busy territorial squirrels chase each other up and down trees. The cardinals and bluejays come to the feeder by my window and share space with smaller birds whose markings I cannot read. I have time to listen to the rhythm of the rain. It is as hypnotic as ocean waves, but the ocean is like a Souza march, keeping perfect time while the rain changes, and is slower, faster, softer, and then louder like jazz improvisation.
I switch gears and turn inside. I open my memory book to Christmas recent and in the past, re-enter those scenes and bring them alive. Remembering. Decorating the tree with grandchidlren. I am traveling to the beach. Shopping with children and grandchildren. Going to the movies. Ice skating. Family dinners. Watching slides. Leftovers. I read new or old books in a “to read” stack by my desk. Writing. Visits to and from family we missed seeing during the year. Spending time with old and new friends I have neglected because of my busyness. Resting.
The church year gives us a few more days for this short Christmas season, and extends it to Epiphany, the celebration of the arrival of the Wise Men on January sixth.
I pray today that I will open this gift and treasure this Christmas season’s precious present.
mary anne seibert