Long after the last Christmas cookie is eaten and the Christmas tinsel is packed away for another year, there remains a gift that has our name on it. This gift will never be broken. It will never need new batteries. It simply waits to be opened by the recipient…you! As we begin this New Year, I invite you to intentionally open that gift each morning as our patron saint, Martin Luther directs us:
In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say:
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may also say this little prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
Then go joyfully to your work, singing a hymn, like that of the Ten Commandments, or whatever your devotion may suggest.
What will it look like to “go joyfully to your work?” With a joyful heart, we “re gift!” In the Eucharist, we ingest the very body of Jesus. We become what receive – the very body of Jesus to be gifted to the world! Through baptism, God claims us as His own. With the gift of water and His word, sin, death, and the devil have no claim on us! Confident in this reality, we can, indeed “go joyfully to our work as the Spirit leads us to “re-gift” again and again.
Let us begin this New Year by pondering the mystery of that gift, Jesus, true God and true man. In this Epiphany season, revel in how this little baby is revealed as the Son of God. Stand in awe with John the Baptist as you hear the Father’s words, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” With Jesus’ first disciples, follow the Lamb of God—wherever He leads you. Shine brightly as you live in Jesus’ love and forgiveness. Dare to live in the upside-down world where those who mourn will be comforted and the meek shall inherit the earth.
The long-awaited gift of Jesus changed the world. It continues to change the world today as children of the light dare to “re-gift.” in this New Year let us share what God has first given us. As we “re-gift,” We Dare in Christ -- “¡Atrevete en Cristo!”
Blessings!
Cantor Jean Boehler
Vice President of Spiritual Life
LWML Atlantic District