The Right Way to Start – 1/5/2022
Merry Christmas (that’s the last time I’ll say this for a year). Today is the 12th Day of Christmas, you know…12 drummers drumming. We’ve already begun a new calendar year, but we are still celebrating the birth of the Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That seems completely fitting, doesn’t it? As we start something new, we celebrate the coming of God Incarnate.
Gary Oliver, at a conference a few years ago, commented that we need to have a “waking” rhythm. By this he meant that we should have a routine or pattern for how we wake each day that sets our tone for the remainder of the day. I like that idea, but it also got me to thinking about whether we should have a “starting rhythm.”
I ran track for a couple of seasons in high school and we had a starting rhythm before a race. There was the warm-up and there was the short pattern of movements at the starting block – to your mark, set and then the starting pistol. Maybe we should learn a lesson from this.
As those who are committed to walking by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps we should start anything new by pausing to remember who we follow, who we worship, who we trust. Maybe having the new year start in the middle of the Twelve Days of Christmas is a good thing. After all, the Incarnation was the starting of a new thing as well.
I’m still teasing “what this looks like” out in my own thinking. But I know that there must be some intentional acknowledgement of our dependence on Father, our submission to the will of Jesus and our openness to the direction of the Holy Spirit. Does this mean offering a prayer? Probably. Does this mean reading a Word of Scripture? Again, probably. But these aren’t “preliminary conventions.” Many of us are familiar with a prayer or devotional thought offered at the beginning of a meeting of Christians. How do we, instead of practicing these as a convention, make these meaningful moments of genuine communion with God. And… what else might a “starting rhythm” look like? I’m personally not going to begin each new spiritual or church venture by singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” – though maybe I should. For today, it’s enough to ask the Spirit to help us understand how we do new things in a spirit which celebrates Jesus.
Pursue Christ – He is enough,
Pastor Jeff
PS – Listen to for KING and COUNTRY’s “Little Drummer Boy” as a Twelfth Day of Christmas celebration.