Have no anxiety at all,” Saint Paul tells us in today’s reading. Sorry Paul, but at Christmastime, your plea falls on deaf ears.
It is a tradition that started way back with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and has continued at political conventions and gatherings ever since, even up to today. To spark the delegates and crowds a band starts playing “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
She was at an awkward age, no longer a child but not yet mature. And so she didn’t quite know how to play Christmas any more.
Saint Paul prays for the Philippians that their love will increase in knowledge and perception so that they may discern what is of value. Think about it: Love is not the first thought that comes to mind when you’re trying to figure out what’s best in any given situation.
A few decades ago pundits were predicting the demise of the once mighty and proud city of New York. It had become in too many people’s minds virtually ungovernable, incredibly dirty, frighteningly dangerous, and so, totally uninviting.
Jesus warns his disciples, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from . . . the anxieties of daily life.”
A shot of sorrow pierced him. He sat straight up, and for the first time in months felt fully aware of God’s presence. His despair lifted.
All the Christmas lights, all the decorations, all the carols, all the shopping, all the cooking—none of this can prepare us for what is really coming on Christmas day.
I thought of Jesus, who said his kingdom is not of this world, a world where being right and getting even and proving my point is all important.
Pilate, like most of us, is a guy who can’t handle the truth because it means accepting that our world is upside down and inside out.