As I write this, the year of our Lord 2008 is drawing to a close. You are reading it early in 2009.
I still haven't decided whether to call the year "two thousand and something" or "twenty-oh-something." I hear the former most often but prefer the latter. Does it say something about me that we are four-fifths of the way through the decade and I still don't know what to call the year? I'd like to think I've been too busy with more important issues and items.
This transition from one year to the next certainly is an improvement over last year. Then I was recovering from broken ribs and my older son was in Iraq. This year my ribs are fine and my son is in Kansas.
January is named for the Roman goddess Janus, who supposedly had two faces - with one she looked to the past and with the other she looked to the future.
(I once was accused of being two-faced, but I replied, "If I had another face, would I be wearing this one?")
Looking back and looking ahead is part of this season as we remember the past and anticipate the future. For our family, the next few months will see the high school graduation of my younger son, the completion of my daughter's junior year in college, my older son's move to a new job in the Army and maybe a new job for my wife. Me? I just keep doing the same old stuff with the hope of eventually getting it right.
I am sitting in front of the Christmas tree which we bought and set up the day before Christmas Eve. We will leave it up till Epiphany, which is the sixth of January. I still believe that the Twelve Days of Christmas begin with Christmas and not Labor Day.
My parents used to leave their tree up late - not for religious reasons - but because I was in college and seminary in Philadelphia and usually did not get home until early January. I worked the holidays so my co-workers could be with their families. I also got paid overtime and bought discounted presents after Christmas. There's nothing wrong with benefiting from altruism.
Because my parents left their tree up so long, when they moved to a new neighborhood, some people thought they were Russian Orthodox, whose calendar is about a week later than our Western one. So their Christmas coincides with our New Year.
This brings us back to the special time between Christmas and New Year when I can savor the memories of the old year and prepare for the challenges of the new.
Someone has written, "I don't know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future." I'm confident because the One whose entry into our world we celebrate at Christmas has promised to be with me throughout this life and into eternity. I hope it is so with you.
- The Rev. Thomas M. Miller is pastor of the Juda: Zion and Oakley:Union United Methodist Churches. More of Pastor Miller's musings can be read at pastoreyes.blogspot.net.
I still haven't decided whether to call the year "two thousand and something" or "twenty-oh-something." I hear the former most often but prefer the latter. Does it say something about me that we are four-fifths of the way through the decade and I still don't know what to call the year? I'd like to think I've been too busy with more important issues and items.
This transition from one year to the next certainly is an improvement over last year. Then I was recovering from broken ribs and my older son was in Iraq. This year my ribs are fine and my son is in Kansas.
January is named for the Roman goddess Janus, who supposedly had two faces - with one she looked to the past and with the other she looked to the future.
(I once was accused of being two-faced, but I replied, "If I had another face, would I be wearing this one?")
Looking back and looking ahead is part of this season as we remember the past and anticipate the future. For our family, the next few months will see the high school graduation of my younger son, the completion of my daughter's junior year in college, my older son's move to a new job in the Army and maybe a new job for my wife. Me? I just keep doing the same old stuff with the hope of eventually getting it right.
I am sitting in front of the Christmas tree which we bought and set up the day before Christmas Eve. We will leave it up till Epiphany, which is the sixth of January. I still believe that the Twelve Days of Christmas begin with Christmas and not Labor Day.
My parents used to leave their tree up late - not for religious reasons - but because I was in college and seminary in Philadelphia and usually did not get home until early January. I worked the holidays so my co-workers could be with their families. I also got paid overtime and bought discounted presents after Christmas. There's nothing wrong with benefiting from altruism.
Because my parents left their tree up so long, when they moved to a new neighborhood, some people thought they were Russian Orthodox, whose calendar is about a week later than our Western one. So their Christmas coincides with our New Year.
This brings us back to the special time between Christmas and New Year when I can savor the memories of the old year and prepare for the challenges of the new.
Someone has written, "I don't know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future." I'm confident because the One whose entry into our world we celebrate at Christmas has promised to be with me throughout this life and into eternity. I hope it is so with you.
- The Rev. Thomas M. Miller is pastor of the Juda: Zion and Oakley:Union United Methodist Churches. More of Pastor Miller's musings can be read at pastoreyes.blogspot.net.
