Thought for Today

Exodus 12:2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.  

Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me there.  

Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Christmas is over and done. All that is left is the cleaning up and garbage pickup. Yesterday, Greta and I (mostly Greta) took down our tree to the background music of the New England Patriots winning and the Buffalo Bills losing. The denuded tree now reclines sadly in the backyard waiting to be dragged (drug?) to the curb on pickup day.

We are at the end of our calendar year. New Year’s Day is rapidly approaching. Once again the annual cycle of the rhythm of the seasons is about to commence. Here in New England, we did have snow on the ground for Christmas. That was a good thing, especially since it was not snowing on Christmas Eve as we drove home from church. Sadly, there will still be several months of intermittent snowfall before we can even dream of spring.

There are other calendars in life. Most of us are aware that Jesus did not observe the same holidays or months we do. The Jewish calendar was and still is a lunar calendar. In our year 2026, the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, begins at sundown September 11th and lasts until sunrise September 13th. Were he alive today, Jesus would celebrate Passover, which in 2026 will begin at sundown April 1st. If we take Jesus’ birthday as December 1, 0001, in the Jewish calendar that would have been 1 Nisan 3760 according to my computer.

Calendars matter. Seasons matter. We organize and orient our lives, our businesses and almost everything else in life around seasons, calendars, times and dates. I have a denominational planning calendar which tells me the liturgical readings for each Sunday and reminds me of the various liturgical holidays. That calendar even tells me the liturgical color associated with each Sunday and holiday. I never have to worry about the ‘proper’ stole to wear or the color for the paraments.

I also have a calendar associated with my email program. I can enter my appointments, the times and locations and even have the app remind me ahead of time when the appointment approaches.

Just in case you do not have a liturgical calendar or your email calendar does not note our liturgical holidays, our next liturgical holiday is January 6th, Epiphany. The degree to which we note some of our liturgical holidays varies from one faith tradition to another, from one congregation to another and from one minister to another. I suspect almost all of us agree on celebrating Christmas and Easter; although, I know that even for those holidays, the celebratory date and the manner of celebrating varies.

Does it matter which calendar we use? Does it matter which specific day or date we celebrate the birth of God’s Incarnate, Creative Word? Isn’t the acknowledgment of God’s gift, our faith in Jesus more important than the specifics of day, time or type of celebration?

You may have noticed in reading the Bible that the specifics of time and date are very sparse. As detailed as Luke’s birth narrative is, while we have an exhaustive genealogy, all we have for day and date are “Luke 1:5 In the days of King Herod of Judea” and “2:1 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.”

This morning, I cannot help but wonder whether all the lack of specificity is deliberate. Maybe the intent of the authors of the scriptures intended us to focus more on the promises of God incarnate in Jesus. Just maybe our focus should be on doing what we can in the year to come “19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." We could do just that by bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and helping free the oppressed. Maybe this could truly be the year!!

Stay safe, do whatever you can to facilitate the Kingdom of God, trust God,

Pastor Ray