27 November 2016

Matthew 24:36 – 44

When I was a child, the Christmas tree at my Granny Norman’s house was a special spot. The bulbs were large and multi-colored, and their glow cast a beautiful light on an otherwise fairly colorless room. The star on the top of the tree twinkled, and it seemed to accentuate the sense of anticipation that my cousins and I held on to with every blink.

My mother and aunt would let us, the cousins and I, gather our blankets and pillows and sleep in the glow of that light during the week leading up to Christmas. It was a wonderful space of joy and laughter and peace.

We were not allowed to sleep there on Christmas Eve, of course, because Santa Claus might disturb our slumber. So, on that night, we each headed off to bed vowing to remain awake until the morning came so that we could be the first to spy the treasures that would wait under that tree.

Today’s scripture lesson expresses the importance of being vigilant. It reminds us that none of us knows when the Christ will come again. Our focus, then, should be on the glow of the Light already here. On the space of joy and laughter and peace that we live in when we live in that Light.

You see, the Treasure has been revealed already.  And it is being revealed still. Each time we show a kindness to another, we live in the Light and we reveal the Light. We allow the glow of the Light to expand. Ever-expanding circles of Light and Love…may His Kingdom come…on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.