More than a few of us find our minds flooded with memories of the physical places that we or loved ones have called home - a house we still go back to visit now and then a bungalow that was sold long ago a neighborhood that has slowly aged with its residents, where adults rather than children now ride their bikes down the street a grandparent’s farm a divorced parent’s apartment a large back yard where we played with cousins. Sadly but understandably, relatives have canceled trips to come and see us too. I know some of us, including me and my family, canceled trips planned for next week, each of us praying for a light to shine on our path and show us the way. Maybe some of you are thinking about how you took for granted the ways you gathered with family and friends a couple of years ago.

Later, at home, did you get to place Jesus in the manger in a nativity set? Or were you the kid constantly rearranging the shepherds and their sheep? Then there are memories of beautiful carols and candlelight in a church. You might have your own version of a memory like that, even if you never share it. After putting in batteries, an eerie sweeping “eye” in the helmet could light up bright red.

I can still remember holding, in the late 1970s, a more-than-one-foot-tall action figure of a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica. Perhaps those are happy memories from your childhood - a Christmas tree decorated with silver tinsel or those giant, colorful, old-fashioned lights wrapped presents that you shook to guess what was inside that one special toy you held in your hands, which just seemed too good to be true. Whether we choose to call it holy, regardless of who we are or where we have been or where we find ourselves now, even if we’re sitting outside on the grass rather than in the pews, this night brings back, unbidden, lots of memories of home. Easter may be “The Queen of Feasts,” but Christmas hits us right here, tugging at our hearts in so many different and powerful ways, some of them unexpected, catching us off guard. Amen.įor most of us, Christmas is the emotional center of Christianity. Jesus, Savior, may I know your love and make it known. Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas

Black church usher poems