Happy New Year!

You might be thinking I am saying this early but I am not as early as you may think. This Sunday for a lot of churches is the first Sunday of the Church year as well as the first Sunday of Advent. It definately a different way of reckoning time. Not only is it on a different day that the secular world says it is but it also changes days. The Sunday in Advent and New Year is determined by what it the Sunday closest to Saint Andrew's Day. Another weirdness for me is that even though Saint Andrews determines the date, I have not seen the saints day celebrated. If I have, it has been so infrequent as not to remember.

The other weirdness about the changing of the church year is the focus of the readings. For one, the last Sunday of the year for some is Christ the King Sunday has the gospel reading focus on the crucifixion of Christ. This happens in the midst of getting several weeks of readings looking at the second coming of Christ. When Advent comes, we switch from his death and his second coming to his first coming in the manger. It is a jarring shift of gears. Yet when you start putting it together, it makes perfect sense. Christ is a King but not a normal king- he came to serve and save to die and to rise. His cross is a unique, perfect throne for this Savior, King. It also brings together that Christmas is all about Easter. If there is no Easter, then Christmas is for not. Both of these combine and we look forward to his second coming.

Happy New Year and Come, Lord Jesus!