Today’s find: De-decking

Things started looking a tad less festive at our place yesterday. And no doubt the de-decking will continue apace today … and in the days to come.

It’s inevitable, I suppose. Even necessary – for the Christmas finery to be taken down, packed into cartons and stowed away. “The holidays” are wrapping up. Ordinary Time approaches. 

Ordinary, yes. But supposedly not “joyless”. Even as all the colorful string-lights are dimmed around the house, our readings for the feast of the Epiphany point my heart in a different direction. “Rise up in splendor,” says the prophet Isaiah. “Your light has come!”

The glory of the Lord shines upon you.

Raise your eyes and look about…

[And] you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow…

Thing is, when I “raise my eyes and look about” in recent days, my heart is more inclined to break … than overflow with joy. This season of peace now trembles at the sound of military might. And any sense of goodwill toward men seems to dissipate in the smoke and flame of incursion and invasion.

There’s some solace, I guess, in knowing that our sinful world has long confused “power and might” with “righteousness.” The magi, we’re told, went first to the palace seeking the newborn king. They couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea that the Christ might come without finery, without dominance, without a showy display.

Perhaps that’s my challenge, too, during this time of de-decking: To follow the lead of the magi in considering anew what things in my life truly deserve primacy, to ponder what (or Who) ought to cause me to bend the knee and do homage. 

But this resolution does not come without risks: The magi also show me that if and when I allow the mystery of Christ to penetrate my rebellious spirit, I might well be led toward unexpected destinations.

Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.

IHS