The Rev. Susan N. Eaves It seems a long time since Christmas. The initial warmth, excitement, and assurance of the birth of the Christ child has faded. Our pageant is long gone. The manger and the stable are packed away.
Costumes wait to be sorted, mended and hung in the closet until next year.
Christmas gifts have been used, stored, exchanged, or returned, and with them we have laid aside the promise that the world is a different place because of that night so long ago. What a silly idea it was anyway. It's true that on Sundays we have listened hopefully to the stories of Jesus' baptism, his first miracle at Cana, and greeted the declaration that the kingdom has come with joy. But nothing much has really happened and in today's gospel we are faced with a serious rejection of Jesus' message. Rejection, in fact, by the very friends, family, and community he called home - Nazareth.