In the coming days and weeks, trees will be thrown in alleys or boxed up and placed in storage; decorations will be returned to the attic; the remnants of wrapping paper placed in the rollouts; and bigger boxes, like some trees, will also find their way to the alleys or curbs.
In a few words, Christmas will be put away.
But perhaps it shouldn’t, perhaps it should linger.
That was Jodie Barrett’s message to guests Monday at the final public gathering of the Community Prayer Tree — to let Christmas linger.
It is a message that has resonated for centuries, both spiritually and secularly, and succinctly it sums up what Scrooge said upon his epiphany in A Christmas Carol — “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
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https://rrspin.com/opinion/9883-let-christmas-linger-thoughts-from-the-community-prayer-tree.html#sigProIdf9c587b39e
This is no easy task in a world that often finds itself embroiled in conflict, embittered in the fight to persuade one or the other their political beliefs are right and the ones who don’t fall in lockstep are wrong.
But it is something that has been done in the past, it’s something that is being done in the present and it’s something that can be done in the future.
“I’m not going to tell you to go home and leave out your Christmas decorations,” she told the guests at the sixth annual Community Prayer Tree. “But I would like for you to go home, celebrate the birth of Christ, celebrate Christmas and then let Christmas linger.”
She said to let Christmas linger is done “in the adoration of the one whose birth we celebrate; linger in the bravery of a virgin, Mary; linger in the faith of Joseph; in the miracle of the virgin birth; linger in the hope and joy of Jesus.”
With a late Thanksgiving, Jodie worried there wouldn’t have been enough time to prepare for the spiritual aspects of the season. “Thankfully, there have been enough days for me to get my heart ready and that’s the part that I want to encourage us to let linger.”
Mary set that example. The shepherds set that example for “our hearts to follow as the new year approaches.”
The shepherds found Mary, Joseph and the baby. “After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about the child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished. But Mary kept all those things in her heart and thought about them often.”
While this column is not intended to be a sermon, it is a piece to encourage us to think of the good in this season — not just on the days leading up to Wednesday, but throughout the year — just as Scrooge did following the most cathartic experience in his former miserly life.
“We can be just like the shepherds and Mary,” Jodie said, encouraging the guests to return to “our flocks with a heart like Mary. Think of his goodness, praise him every day and let Christmas linger.”
The best way to let Christmas linger is letting the light continue to shine. “As we walk away from December 25th into the 26th, 27th and into the new year, don’t let the world put out Christmas in your heart. Don’t let it burn out your light no matter what your going through.”
Joy, praise, peace, hope, and love, she said, “Are a gift from the Lord, a gift more valuable than anything the world can give us and we don’t have to put it away. Carry it with you, let it be a light in your life and a light unto others as we celebrate Christmas on the 25th and every day thereafter.”
It means, in the words of Scrooge, try as best you can to honor Christmas in your heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Never shut out the lessons the season teaches.
Merry Christmas! — Lance Martin