The Post-Christmas Blues

It was a sad day yesterday, the day after Epiphany. It is the day that Christmas is officially over. All the lights, wreaths, trees, and stockings must come down. All the beautiful Chrismons and the Advent wreath at the church are carefully put away for next year. The sanctuary looks bare. Before too long, the solemn, somber season of Lent will be upon us.
The lectionary of the church calls this "Ordinary Time" or the Sundays after the Epiphany. It doesn't inspire one to burst out into song, this ordinary time. The paraments are green to represent a season of intentional growth for the next two months.
Wouldn't it be awesome if we could find a way to make every Sunday a celebration?  The early church referred to every Sunday as a "little Easter." How could we get that feeling of celebration that we get at Christmas Eve Communion into all services of the church? It's not going to be a highlight day every week, I know that. There are natural peaks and valleys. If we didn't have lows, we wouldn't appreciate the highs. Yet, our worship should always be FAR FROM ordinary.
The secret to keeping that celebration going is to be passionate about worship. Google defines passion as "a strong and barely controllable emotion, a state or outburst of strong emotion, [intense sexual love], an intense desire or enthusiasm for something, a thing arousing enthusiasm" and, finally, "the suffering and death of Jesus."
The people of the early church had such passion. They had emotions they could barely control. They often were noted for outbursts of strong emotion. Their intense desire was for Jesus Christ, and him alone! If ever they needed to rekindle their passion, they would relate the story of THE Passion of Jesus Christ.
Every kid you meet can tell you a story about Christmas; whether it's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or the Nativity story, they KNOW what Christmas means to them. Adults, too, can recount their favorite traditions and what they mean. But, can everyone tell the story that really matters - that "God raised Jesus from the dead" (Acts 2:32) and that "you killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead" (Acts 3:15) and that "When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead! And over a period of many days he appeared to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem." In other words, everyone in the early church could tell the story of Jesus Christ, his life death and resurrection. Not only could they tell it, they celebrated it! Every day they would get together and celebrate with the singing of songs and the Lord's Supper. In fact, the Lord's Supper was actually a full-blown supper! Every night!
Not only did they know the story, but they proudly claimed to be the bearers of the gospel to future generations. All of the passages quoted above from the book of Acts are only a partial quote. The full quotes read like this:

Acts 2:32 says, “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this."

Acts 3:15 reads, "You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!"

Acts 13:29-31 tells us, "When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead! And over a period of many days he appeared to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to the people of Israel."

The way to recapture passion in our worship and in our lives is to witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is real, and he makes a difference in our lives! We are witnesses! If we are silent and/or awkward when talking about Jesus, then our witness is dead, drowned out by the noise of life.  If we keep trying to make our experience of Christ happen in the same was it always has, then we leave no room for growth in Christ. The best way to experience the passion of worship is to be passionate about the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ. 

We can't borrow someone else's witness. We can't get it out of a book (not even the bible!) It comes from an intense desire to share Christ with the world. It comes from spending time with God in prayer. It comes from seeing someone in need, and offering help. It comes from deep within and finds its expression in the songs, prayers and preaching during worship.

So............Instead of being sad this time, I choose joy. I choose to be a witness to the power and glory of a mighty God and Christ. I choose to witness to freedom and wholeness given to me as a result of faith in Christ Jesus. I claim that ordinary time will not be so ordinary this year. I pray that God will provide something extraordinary for each service of worship I preside over. Most of all, I choose to offer myself as a witness to the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, my Savior and my King.