Home

“I’ll be home for Christmas…” Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Here we are on the Fifth Day of Christmas and the First Sunday of Christmastide, and you’re probably either tired of being home or loving it. Or both. The idea of home conjures immediate feelings in each of us, whether those feelings are warm and comforting or anxious and uncertain. So, the first question this Sunday raises for us is: “What kind of home do we want church to feel like?”

If you will bear with me for a moment of theological musing, I’m struck by how when we talk about the identity and role of the church in the world, we rarely talk about the sensory experience of church. We say the church is the Body of Christ in the world. What does being part of that Body feel like? We say that the church is called to fulfill God’s mission in the world. What does the mission of God sound like, look like, smell like? We say that the church is a place where we are formed as Christians in community with one another. What does the experience of making life-giving community together in Christ feel like in our bodies?

This First Sunday in Christmastide is a wonderful time for us to consider these questions. We’ve come all this way through the waiting of Advent into the joy of Jesus’ arrival. Now what? It’s a bit like when new parents bring their baby home from the hospital. After all that anticipation and effort, the baby is here, and the new normal of family life begins—or in the case of the church, begins again. At home.

So, what kind of mood and feeling do you want to bring to worship this week? What might evoke a sense of home as a place of safety, belonging, and support? For many people, the sense of smell can evoke strong emotions and memories. Perhaps this is a Sunday to bake bread or cookies in the kitchen and let the aroma waft into the sanctuary. This is certainly an excellent Sunday for a hymn sing of all your congregation’s favorite Christmas carols and for extended moments of fellowship and connection before, during, and after the worship service. You might even consider declaring it Slipper Sunday, inviting everyone to wear their most comfortable slippers and bring their favorite blankets to church. Whatever you choose, get the congregation involved in making this Sunday a time to celebrate and rest in the home that you create together as the Body of Christ!

Addendum to Preaching Notes

“Why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” (Luke 1:43) Yes, OK, here’s the real passage for this Year C. It is about Elizabeth. Except, Elizabeth wouldn’t say so. She redirects; she looks beyond. She has her role in the drama but is willing to move from center stage so that another might stand in the promise of which they are both a part. Now Mary hears another greeting. This one is a bit more human. And yet there is a taste of the divine in it. There is a promise in the greeting and the question that follows. Elizabeth, glowing from her own miracle, points the light on Mary֫ - on the One she carries, the hope of the world, the promise to which the people of God had clung for centuries.

“Blessed is she who believed” (Luke 1:45), Elizabeth says at the end of her welcome to Mary. But who is “she”? Mary, of course, Mary believed. But then didn’t Elizabeth believe as well? Or if she did not believe ahead of time, didn’t she believe in process? How else could she now come to greet Mary with such conviction and certainty? Elizabeth is living the promise. She is a sign, like Mary is a sign, that God is with them. She who believed includes Elizabeth. And? Who else is included in the affirmation of faith, this creedal greeting at the door of Elizabeth’s house?