First word, have a Happy New Year, or a Healthy one, or a Profitable one, or even an Adventurous one. Whatever it is about this day, we think we have the chance to make it different from any year we have ever known. Truth be told, some change would happen under any circumstances. However, let’s look at options.

The most common word I like least; New Year’s Resolutions, a word heavy with obligation and commitment. It also usually involves some form of intense exercise that in many cases, has been put forth with hopefulness in previous years. Maybe next January will see you as the feature article in the Outlook section of the Houston Chronicle. You will have lost a planned for amount of weight, or clocked an amazing number of miles running each day in the dark, or your membership in a nearby gym has you pressing your weight goal in front of amazed admirers.

Instead, you could just focus on Behavior, those responses that brighten your life and that of others. You might Laugh more, try extra Forgiveness, or even be Grateful for that totally unexpected happening Another umbrella word could be Mindful, which opens all varieties of possibilities. Call up a response of Calmness to ride a tumultuous wave or even Simplify to avoid the wave in the first place.

Unless we are rocking unhurriedly on a front porch, an exhaustive list of “Today I will…” is not possible. I think at this moment my goal is to do a better job of Sorting and Unstacking with a small amount of purging as needed. The temptation of a flat surface calls me to create unclassified groups of bills, notes, and grocery mailings indiscriminately until more action time than I want to give is required to accomplish another despicable word: Organize. Choose whatever fits you as per this unknown admonition. “Every year you make a resolution to change yourself. This year resolve to be yourself. “ Verse 1 to keep on track.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed. 2 Timothy 2:15

or Verse 2 if you need extra back-up.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
    and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3

If you want just bare bones, read Matthew 2:1 – 18. Google can flesh out some details. Because of a horrific end to their visit, we know it occurred two years after Christmas Eve birth. A unspecified number of Magi, wise men most probably not Jews, arrive in Jerusalem asking Herod , that pinpoints the date, about the birth of the King of the Jews, which Herod thought he was. They asked this question because of their interpretation of a bright star which had led them to this place. Herod gave the question to Jewish chief priests who used Micah to send the Magi to Bethlehem after Herod has asked for more information to be brought back to him. The star led the searchers on to a house where they worshiped and gave three gifts. A dream advised them to not share news with Herod. An angels stepped in again and told Joseph to take the family to Egypt until Herod died. Herod thought he had gotten ultimate revenge by killing all baby boys two years old and under, giving us that heart wrenching statement, “Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted. “

From this comes the obligatory hymn to conclude the season; We Three Kings of Orient Are. Basically it sets the number at three kings, identifies the gifts metaphorically as appropriate to a new-born king, and emphasizes the star in the story. Historical research and inventive story tellers have fleshed out the bare bones. Henry van Dyke’s The Other Wise Man may be considered by some to be part of the canon narrative. I don’t have a Bible verse. Just consider these two offerings. The first is from Scholastic Magazine in 1958, how to travel.

Onward they journeyed, the star in the eyes. straight to a glory that lit up the skies. Most people stay in the place where they are. Only the wisest follow a star.

Christina Rosetti In the Bleak Mid-Winter can define your gift.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

Next week this time unless you are marching to a different drummer, a last worship service for Advent will have been held, gifts will have been opened, a meal consumed, and, in some cases, s’mores made and a favorite movie watched. Now, what carol is unsung? In our hymnbook, from p. 79 – p. 150 choices are presented. Stately offerings like Once in David”s Royal City , a jubilant Joy to the World , and do you really think I will leave out the touch our heart favorite, Silent Night. Yes, because this night is approaching the time when all gather: individuals, couples, the elderly, the teens, and some hand holding younger ones . We started this journey with almost outcasts, the shepherds. We blended our voices and paid attention to what the angels sang for each of us to note. The simplicity of children’s voices evoked our memories of a unique nursery and the special child it sheltered. Now is the time to light a candle and hold it high as we declare what we are as a group in O Come, All Ye Faithful.

All that has been hoped for has come to pass. Emmanuel, God with us, is true. All journeys start at a beginning, maybe even with just a lone traveler. Like the call Hark earlier in the season, the call now is Come! with exuberance. The destination is Bethlehem, not very large, yet expands to make room for a crowd. The God who sends the child doesn’t shun a humble dwelling. He elevates the status of this new one with a choir of angels. On this happy morning, Oh, Come, let Us adore him, Oh, Come, let Us adore him, Oh, Come, let Us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Join the crowd of the faithful which has grown through the years. Be a part of the ones who add their voices to the varied songs and hold dear the treasured verse.

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Holding a hymnbook isn’t easy for tiny hands even if the spine is resting on the pew back. The three year olds may have learned to recognize their name and a STOP sign if their parents have really been focused, yet reading a whole page is not a possibility. The song this week is the one children know because it goes with rocking time, story time, or is part of a performance. Also what is more tender to all than a new baby. Away in a Manger tells the whole story. My favorite setting is to Flow Gently Sweet Afton. That tune seems to have a sway that the strong first beat lacks for me.

The lyrics tell the whole story and provide teaching in the untold places. A Christmas Eve manger helps children see it is not at all like their bedrooms, yet adults have done what they can to care for a new baby even as their parents do for them. If cattle are lowing, is it scary? Did Jesus really never cry? What better phrase to use than, “I love thee, Lord Jesus,” and be assured that that love is poured back on them. They learn to pray that Jesus be not only with them, but also with all their friends in His tender care. Truthfully. I like the upgrade to “fit us for heaven.” My childhood version was “take us to heaven” which put a damper on going to sleep.

I can see the shepherds coming in quietly. They had held baby lambs with the mothers nudging around to check on their offspring. Somehow children too know instinctively how to welcome a new baby. Maybe at some level, we wish we could have held a swaddled child. Our family has a video of a new great-great nephew brought home to older brothers. His mother put the two day old in a dough-nut on the couch with older ones at head and foot. We could hear a soft, “ooh.” as they settled in. Very slowly the three year old raised his hand and lowered it to barely cup the small head. Checking with his mother, he then bent over to bestow a welcome kiss. We too can remember the Christ of Calvary was once the Babe of Bethlehem. “Be with us Lord Jesus, we ask thee to stay close by us forever and love us we pray.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

Luke 2:15 – 16

Listen up! Everyone knows this week’s song. It is sung robustly by small children and men with strong voices and when the congregation begins they give their best to the final note. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. It has a page in every denomination’s hymnbook that reveres Christmas carols. In the way of so many activities, I have sung it with gusto and auto pilot at the same time. Then our choir this year sang an arrangement by Dan Forrest, and I suddenly had to pay attention to the flight plan.

First off, the familiar title appears. Then for three full pages no hint in the music gives a clue to the song you are awaiting. Instead, you are sitting on the hillside with last week’s shepherds. On page 4, the call resounds: Hark! That word means stop what you are doing, straighten up and pay attention. This whole announcement is for YOU! Don’t miss it! The tone of voice is that used by a mother standing in front of her child and saying, “Look me in the eye!”

The music in 4/4 time moves quickly, so you may gloss over the import of the deliverers. Only one is chosen to give the obligatory, “Don’t be afraid!” This speaker delivers all the salient points of the message: what, where, who. We have no idea how many angels are in heaven, but instead of one, a host of angels flows past overhead, undulating in a forward moving stream over your blinking eyes. They are a multitude with a fixed purpose. They are Heralds, messengers sent by the king with a pronouncement. In case you slid over the words in verse 1, your part is repeated at the end of verse 2 and 3. Sing it out! Glory to the new-born King!

 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:14 KJV (Because that’s what I first learned)

The Christmas season is always rushed. By Mid-November, one can buy a Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas decorations in the same store. Through the five years I have written, I’ve tried to focus these four Advent offerings on words or actions or Biblical passages to move the season out of the commercial realm. Be warned, this year I am traveling through Epiphany focusing on five songs that set the time for me. Feel free to substitute

Since the time of creation, God had been dropping hints that one more step needed to be taken to have a perfect man to God connection. Prophecies that were clear and some that maybe were not so understandable. Then that long time of silence. Wrapping up provided a carpenter and a teen-age bride who will be a family. Throw in a king who decides to move players like chessmen to be at the appropriate place pre-mentioned. One waits for babies to be born and eventually the waiting is over. Who gets the good news? It’s not the most well know carol, yet it’s meaningful to me for one line. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks. Then that picture setting moment…all sitting on the ground.

They are not the most important people in town, certainly are not the high priest. I like to see them sprawled out in their costume -like brown tunics talking quietly, so they won’t upset the sheep. If they were men I grew up with they would be smoking a pipe and one maybe scratching a dog behind his ear. Then the news breaks out and all they need to know is told by a calming angel. (More about that next week) For now this is the information and they are the first to know. The babe is born in David’s town, wrapped in swaddling clothes and in a manger laid. The music never gets louder or faster, just spins out the word we hold true to this day, Good will henceforth from heav’n to men ,begin and never cease!” Pay attention, you may be given the news.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Luke 2:10

This is the get ready for Thanksgiving as a designated holiday writing. Yesterday was a tangled day for me. I have a certain structure to get ready for my days, not too rushed for an elderly woman. Monday morning I had to go check, check, check to be ready to walk out of the house for an eye doctor appointment, the slowest doctor I see. I have a first time with the note taking drop lady then am sent back to the waiting area while everyone else does the same thing I did. Finally I get my turn with the expert, hear her comments, and am sent on my way, a long time past mid-morning. Lunch of sorts and off to physical therapy which moved the day onward to mid-afternoon. I already had plans with a son for supper and to an organ concert with five U of Houston students. I literally was trudging on feeling like times from a childhood when my dad would move a pump handle with no result. Then I remembered. He would pour a little water down the pipe to force out extra air so the water available could flow. The priming water added to this very bland day was the surprise of an organ teacher I knew, the chance to encourage one of the students my son knew, and the overwhelming performance of the last piece that called for flying hands and feet to send forth a triumphant ending. I went home with my whole attitude toward the day pouring out in gratitude.

I woke up this Tuesday thinking of the first line of a George Herbert poem I had copied years ago, “Thou that hast giv’n so much to me Give one thing more, a grateful heart.” Truthfully, is the water not flowing? In reality, I need to move the negativity, so an abundance of noticing good can pour out. This very week, I’ve whined for rain, and it has come. The temperature has dropped enough to turn off the a.c. and lower the electrical bill. Tomorrow even promises to be that first moment of sweater weather. I will bake my offerings for next Thursday and once again the eaters will say, “No one can touch your rolls!” May I notice what around me needs a “Thank You!”

This week pay attention to your hand on the pump handle. Getting ready for company or to be company can seem more demanding than for it to feel like a gift bestowed, yet the gathering is not a sparse blessing. After many years, I looked up the whole poem, and the last stanza brought me up short. Pair it with the last verses of Psalm 100 and move from thank you to praise!

Not thankful, when it pleases me; as if thy blessings had spare days; but such a heart, whose pulse may be Thy Praise.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100: 4 – 5

After all it is November. In the familial world we plan for Thanksgiving. In retail we are thankful for a tip of the hat to Hollowe’en and a moment of worship for All Saints before lights go up, ornaments out, and wrapping paper is on sale. However, for some of us this moment opens time to think about a new planting season. Fall comes so we can prepare for spring. Not for everybody. Here is an eye- opening conversation I had at a PT session last week.

The therapist and I have tennis-type exchanges between stretches and weight lifts. He: What’d you do last week end? Me: I went to the nursery for flowers. He: My girlfriend likes flowers. Me: What does she plant? He: Plant? I just give them to her. Me: It’s the season for pansies, my favorite flower! He: Season for flowers? I thought that was only for fruits and vegetables! At that point I launched into my Lecture 101 on getting ready in order to have something later.

Begin with pansies. One watches the slight temperature drops for that moment their varied colored faces can brighten the landscape. I like to choose my own. The dark burnt orange are my favorite with the yellow and brown and the brown and yellow (distinctively different presentations) to help fill in with a purer orange and a total yellow for a sparkle. Maybe just two whites so they won’t feel left out. Once in, they are the consistent winter color until warming days return. I’ve even seen them erect and smiling at the world under light layers of snow.

Part of the preparation for the next season is preparing the beds. You do like fresh sheets, don’t you? Daisies and mist flowers die down and need to be pulled out. Sprawling lantana is trimmed back. Echinacea, cone flowers to the common folk, can be dug up and divided to cover more space next year along with the tall green fonds of the day lilies. Weed the whole area, add some fresh top soil. Finally, mulch for warmth and to help hold the moisture.

Depending on your desires, larkspurs can brighten the mix, marigolds clump well, and the bulbs of renuculus, amaryllis, and Easter lilies rest up for a spring showing. By early February, I read seed packets for starting times. Some can be primed indoor six weeks before the last expected frost while others have to be in ground after that nebulous date. At this point in the lecture, the poor young man was confident that a better solutions for the offered gift was the flower shop. I, though, had done the ground work to move on in the year and am confidently waiting with a cup of warm cocoa to welcome the blooms of my labors.

 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

I thought it would be easy to do some research, lay out some data, let you plug in, and have a wise and maybe humorous comment on this past week. Forget that. Outside of some scientist in a special room watching and making notes with an atomic clock, the rest of us in 2024 try to get to work on time and go to bed at a reasonable hour. Here are some scatterings to consider. One of my first time sayings was “Farmers work from sun up to sun down” which sometimes meant before sunrise because cows needed milking or lasted past dark because livestock needed bedding down. The earliest time measuring chunks were moon months, inaccurate yet noticeable with memorable names like a Full Worm Moon in the spring and the bright orange Harvest Moon in October. Types of clock began with sundials with the Romans even having a pocket-sized one. They moved on through water clocks with controlled drips to Galileo and a pendulum to a mechanical clock and the quartz that didn’t need winding

Men had vests with a special pocket for a round watch to pull out and check. Picture a train conductor. My mother never had a watch she wore. She just went into the bedroom to check the Big Bend on the dresser or noticed the town clock at the corner of the bank if downtown. I got a wrist watch for graduating from the eighth grade which lasted me well into my marriage. Now even preschools have some type of internet watch that tells digital time and the number of their steps in a day.

So, other than remembering FALL BACK is the direction in November, how did the end of DST affect you. If you lived in Arizona or were a member of the Navaho nation, it had no impact. You along with various countries around the world as well as the entire continent of Africa live all year with whatever sunlight is provided. Only 62 countries try to lessen their energy bills by stumbling through the predawn hours. Personally, I could handle the appearing to have an extra hour in the morning, but it takes a week for me to decide how to manage an early sleepy feeling in the evening.

In the beginning, the Bible says, there was light called day and dark called night. We are the ones who have filled both ends of the spectrum with illumination as needed and shades to block out the sun. Ecclesiastes 3 gives us one verse to say we have enough time and then lists 28 options for a start.

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens. Ecclesiastes 3:1

This title is really a substitute for two other more precise words which will be revealed. In the English language, and sometimes reaching beyond our border, are groups of capital letters that may be pronounced as a specific word that identifies what is represented or another group of letters that may stand for a specific action. In the later group letters are named individually and offer no hints of meaning to the uninitiated. The groups that are a recognizable word are called acronyms. NASA is spoken with assurance that any information following will be about the space agency while to many people the word NATO brings to mind the organization that was created to instigate fairness of behavior between nations. If the capital letters are just named one at a time with no clues to meaning they are known as initialism. What you forget to write the first time may be added as a PS and your social calendar is kept in order with an RSVP. Of course, there are those sneaky letters that are used so often that they are presented in lower case and have meaning that never has to be discussed, such as scuba.

Consider the options. If you put your mind to it, you could write a whole paragraph that would be as sticky to translate as one composed with the most erudite words in the Oxford English Dictionary. We haven’t even mentioned the vastness of texting abbreviations, pure slang best known to another human generation. The only two I really know are LOL and BFF. Chaos is the result of a SNAFU. RADAR can get a driver in trouble. You use ZIP without ever thinking that it stands for for Zone Improvement Plan. The best in a variety of options is a GOAT. Employees have an IRA, emergency rooms operate on ASAP and DNR, and for you to be met at the end of an airline journey someone needs to know the ETA. All make up the universe’s alphabet soup!

We use these acronyms, initialisms, and common slang to save space in a written communication. Sometimes they terminate a conversation casually like a baby wiggling fingers and saying, “Bye-bye.” Yet if that moment is emotional, a hug is part of the process and three understandable words, ‘I love you!” After the gospels, the rest of the New Testament is letters to churches or groups that needed encouragement or correction. The recognizable words at the beginning are grace and peace along with the wish that there may be no ambiguity in the message, but that the writer may come to the recipient so what is being said may be clearly understood.

I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you.

3 John 1:14