A season of resolutions . . .
January holds two of my three favorite church days: Epiphany and Baptism-of-the-Lord Sunday.
Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, is such a beautiful celebration. Three Kings Day celebrates the day the wise men from the east arrived in Bethlehem. In many cultures, this day is bigger than Christmas. This is because people not of the Jewish faith recognized Jesus as the Messiah. The gifts they brought to Jesus symbolize his kingly aspects (gold), true holiness (frankincense), and also the medicinal oil that was used in the rituals for burial (myrrh). These gifts recognized the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
In this season of new year’s resolutions, what if we practiced life, death and resurrection? What activities or attitudes need to be pruned away so that new growth can flourish? What activities should we nourish because they help us grow? How can we make more time to be with the Holy?
I look back to when I began my devotional practice. I’ve always talked to God, but my devotional practice evolved over time to be done with more intention. Sometimes I would pray. Sometimes I would read and reflect on a devotional reading and other times, I would stare at a candle and listen intently to the quietness, which was never that quiet. I didn’t notice any changes in me. I didn’t notice any change in my relationship with Jesus, but I kept doing it everyday, sometimes for five minutes, sometimes for much longer. I didn’t notice a change until one day when I tried to figure out why I was so grumpy. Like, everything was irritating me. Things like the way people breathed. Things that never bothered me before. I didn’t like it at all, and when I stopped to recognize this, and try to figure out why, it hit me. I had gone a few days without my devotional time. I didn’t notice the change in me this time had made until a few busy days in a row popped up and I didn’t make time for it. Then boy! Did I notice! I immediately made time for a five-minute break to sit with God. I apologized to God and said ‘wow! I never knew how much I needed time with You.’ Sure enough, it refocused my day and the grumpiness left.
My day is uplifted when I take this time, and notably not when I don’t. I do have to seek this time each day, some days are easier, but it’s never easy. It’s my desire to turn to God each day because I realized how impactful it was when I didn’t. This helps me in my seeking time.
Sometimes in my time with God, I recite the baptismal vows, not just the ones we take for ourselves, but also the vows of the congregation, namely because of one partial line – with God’s help. I love what can be done with God’s help – like the pause to eliminate the grumpiness. The problem causing the grumpies may not be resolved, but my attitude is altered because of God’s help. Also in the baptism vows, we promise as a community to love and support each other. Sometimes I need the reminder that I don’t have to go it alone. With God’s help, and the support of the faith community, life is good!
My hope for us all in this new year is that we find the ways to nourish our souls in the ways we seek time with the Holy, to let practices in life that keeps us from truly living can fall away, and that each day we feel the power of people who have been uplifted by Divine Kin-dom.
Jaime Rogers-Fairchild, Pastor