It’s that time of year – when people get discombobulated. They forget to go to scheduled meetings. They forget the weekly piano lesson. They forget it’s their day for the carpool. They forget the doctor’s appointment. Things are busy. There are lots of special events. We are distracted. It is easy to loose track of things and to get off kilter.
We think about Jesus as a manifestation of God breaking into human history in a new way. God is doing a new thing. There is before Jesus and after Jesus. That shows up in the calendar designations BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era) previously known as BC and AD.
This in-breaking, this bright light, this manifestation, creates a new reality. It sets a new course for human community. It is drastic and disruptive. It is the advent of a new reality very different from the way things were. It is the initiation of a new and surprising future.
The coming of Jesus should knock us off track, disrupt our routines, and throw a wrench in the works. That is indicative of the cataclysmic shift that Jesus brings into the world.
So, this holiday season, when you find you have missed an appointment, or forgotten to pay a bill, or dropped the ball on returning a phone call, let yourself be reminded that Jesus came to knock things out of whack and it’s no wonder you’re off this time of year!
For reflection: Are there ways that you have felt out of sync this season? How does following Jesus disrupt your world?
Prayer: We give thanks for this time of year with its additional activities and festivities. May they remind us of the good news of great joy to all people that comes into the world through Jesus. May we allow ourselves to be changed and transformed by this disruptive good news. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 